The battery-operated Motiv has been designed by Gordon Murray, who received fame for his work in Formula 1 and with McLaren. News of an impending launch of the microcar circled a few times in the past to years, but nothing happened. Today, Yanagi said that his company doesn’t have more to show of the car than the results of a European market study, and a budget.
Yamaha’s study of the market for microcars in Europe most likely did not produce inspiring results. EU sales of Daimler’s Smart Fortwo two-seater were 52,000 in 2014, less than half of what the car sold at its peak in 2002. A new four-seater version, the Smart Forfour, shares the platform with Renault’s Twingo, which last year also sold only half of its 2009 high water mark.
Asymcar has discussed Murray’s modular approach extensively.