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Voiturette is a word mostly used to describe a miniature car; however, it has several meanings, depending largely on the usage date.
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History
The term was first used by Léon Bollée in 1895 to describe his new motor tricycle and in the early years of the motor industry was used by many makers to describe their small cars. The word comes from the French word for "automobile", voiture. Between World War I and II the term was also applied to light-weight racing cars with engines limited to 1500 cc such as the Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta, the Bugatti Type 13 and the original ERAs.
In France, in the years after World War Two it came to refer to a type of small three-wheeled vehicle.
In the 1990s the word was revived for a French vehicle weighing less than 350 kilograms (770 lb) empty and carrying a load (i.e., passengers) of not more than 200 kilograms (~440 lb). The top speed is limited to 45 km/h (~30 mph) and engine size to 50 cc or 4 kilowatts for an engine of "another type" for example an electric car. Such vehicles are sometimes also called "motor quadricycles" or "motor tricycles". The driver's license for them are available to people over 16 years and are in category "B1" and are valid, subject to restrictions, in all European Union countries.
Renault's 1898 Voiturette
French maker Renault's first car was simply called Voiturette, instead of the common usage then (it would have been called Renault 1 3/4 CV). The 1900 model (Voiturette C) was considered the first ever sedan (a car with roof) and it's largely seen as a predecessor for today's Clio or the smaller Twingo.
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This article about a car produced between 1945 and 1975 is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 7 November 2008, at 11:13.
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