City car to cut teens' insurance

The Government is investing millions of pounds in a venture to create an affordable, funky, new two-seater city car aimed at young drivers. And the consortium behind it is working closely with the insurance industry to guarantee that the new car is cheap to insure.

The Car for Young Drivers is one of 17 major research and development schemes to receive money from a £56million pot put up jointly by the Government and private sector.

The project is aiming to create a hybrid quadricycle that will be priced at under £10,000 when it goes on sale in around five years. It will rival city cars such as the Smart and VW up! – but it will offer rock-bottom insurance rates and economy of 150mpg.

The consortium of companies behind the Car for Young Drivers is headed by the mi Technology group, but also includes Caterham Technology and Coventry University.

The car will be made from durable but ultra-lightweight materials to make it super-safe for occupants but also less of a damage risk to other road users in the event of a crash.

Insurance-friendly safety technology systems such as Autonomous Emergency Braking will reduce the risk of accidents and lower the car’s insurance group rating.

mi Technology is also anticipating that it will be the first vehicle on the market with ‘black box’-style telematics as standard – allowing insurers to monitor the driving ability of every owner in real time.

An advanced hybrid powertrain, with a single-cylinder petrol engine mated to a supercapacitor-based energy recovery system, will limit top-end speed while still offering nippy town driving.

It won’t be the only low-cost quadricycle on the market, though. Renault is considering importing a 28mph restricted speed version of the Twizy, that will be able to be driven by 16-year-olds under the new quadricycle licence category that comes into force in January. And it’s likely to be cheaper than the Twizy’s current £6,690 starting price.