The “G-Wagen of Golf Carts” could be the perfect second car

While the auto industry is wringing its hands over the electric vehicle market, sweating over details like aerodynamic efficiency and worrying about range, a new EV company based in Lisbon, Portugal, is heading in a different direction. The new Amble electric stroller It won’t impress anyone with its 0-60 time or self-driving features (it doesn’t have any). Instead, it takes a stab at believing that cars have become too big, too fast, and perhaps could use a little reduction in both departments.

The Amble One is an excellent street car with a cool retro design and is currently marketed in locations where traditional cars are unnecessary or too large, such as hotels or resorts. Developed by a team of graduates from Apple, Audi and Cowboy, the compact electric vehicle is the answer to a society dominated by large, powerful trucks and SUVs. It could be coming to a neighborhood near you.

Rather than competing directly with traditional cars, Amble wanted to create an entirely new class of vehicle aimed at becoming a family’s second car rather than their primary one, CEO Adrian Rose told me.

“If we look at the statistics, most European and American families own two cars on average,” Rose said. “The truth is that one car provides the emotional freedom or the physical freedom you need to hit the highway, go on vacation, or go on long weekends. But the truth is, the second car is used more often, like for school trips, grocery shopping, and the neighborhoods.”

He added: “We want to be the ultimate solution for these short trips.”

The Amble One is open and simple, but with a sturdy design perfect for off-road trails and beach trails. Designed as an open-air vehicle without doors, it features folding front seats, a digital display and physical controls using leather and cork true to its Portuguese origins. There’s also a front cargo rack for luggage or other storage, and the rear seats fold flat for surfboards or other gear. Built-in stands let you add baskets, straps, mirrors and other accessories.

With a 15 kW motor and 11 kWh battery, you won’t be able to win any drag or long-distance races. The Amble One has a top speed of 40 mph (65 km/h) and can travel over 62 miles (100 km) on a single charge. It can fill its battery from a standard wall outlet in five hours and has a total weight of less than 450 kg (992 lbs).

Rose described weight as one of the company’s biggest engineering challenges because the car is being matched to European standards L7e quad bike regulations. To qualify, the weight of the entire vehicle, including the battery, must be less than 450 kg. It’s a really demanding goal, with Rose describing it as the source of some of the team’s most intense engineering discussions.

The company started with a resort-oriented vehicle, but Rose says it was intentionally designed for local roads as well. Looking to the future, the ambition is to introduce a broader family of low-speed vehicles that collectively address short-distance transport. During our conversation, Rose showed me a rendering of a version of the vehicle with doors and windows that looked like a cross between a dune buggy and a dune buggy. Mini mochi.

But Rose prefers a more upscale comparison than the breezy flâneur.

“The inspiration for this vehicle initially comes from the Lunar Rover, but they also looked at older SUVs like the G-Wagen, which is very famous for its very flat roofs and other similar vehicles,” Rose said. “Some people might call it a great golf cart, but it’s actually in the middle in terms of platform. If you look at the battery, it’s three to four times the range of a golf cart.”

The Mercedes comparison makes sense given the team Ampel has assembled. In addition to Rose, who was heading the Premier Division Belgian e-bike company CowboyThe company’s leadership team includes founder and Chairman José Antonio Ova, a Portuguese hotelier and businessman best known for converting his eighth-generation ancestral property into… Sao Lourenço do Barocala popular luxury farm retreat in the Alentejo region. Julian Hoenig, an industrial designer who worked on the R8, RSQ, A4, and Q3 at Audi, the Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Defunct Project Titan at Appleserves as the design lead. Michael Tropper, designer and founder of London-based creative studio forpeople, is co-founder and chief creative director.

Rose says the pedigree helps explain why Amble chose to start with fleet sales to hospitality operators, describing it as a simpler way to launch a company compared to diving straight into the turbulent waters of customer sales. However, the unexpectedly enthusiastic response since the Amble One’s launch has led the team to reconsider its rollout schedule.

“I think we will have to adjust our plans and accelerate the rollout of the street legal version in the United States,” he said.

Customers can currently reserve the Amble One with a $100 deposit, with delivery targeted for 2028. Amble is targeting a starting price of $25,000, with Roose noting that the company already has more than 1,000 reservations.

Although Amble is headquartered in Lisbon, the company will not manufacture the vehicles itself. Instead, it partnered with an established contract manufacturer, which Rose declined to name but described as a serious Tier 1 automotive supplier, which employs nearly 1,100 people and already produces advanced components for electric vehicles, including motors and other systems. The motors come from Germany and the reducers from Italy, while the batteries are currently sourced from China. The current plan is to export initial vehicles to the United States from Europe before eventually establishing American manufacturing for American customers.

When the Amble One finally reaches customers, it may find itself with a lot of competition. There are a growing number of small car and golf cart offerings for interested customers, including the Microlino, Citroen Ami, Fiat Topolino, A growing enthusiast subculture About Japanese Kei cars.

Unfortunately for Ampel, Americans are more They are increasingly attracted to larger and more dangerous vehicles. Almost every truck and SUV sold today is larger than it was 20 years ago. These giants make up about 80 percent of the vehicles sold in the United States. Experts warned that the larger the car, the more… The greater the risk Pedestrians and cyclists are injured or killed.

Amble’s strategy will not be to target affluent buyers who want to broadcast their environmental goodwill, like the Toyota Prius, but rather people who really enjoy driving and also appreciate thoughtful design, but prefer something smaller than the average F-150. And points to Golf carts are growing in popularity and other low-speed neighborhood vehicles in many communities across the Sun Belt and elsewhere.

“A lot of people have this huge catch,” Rose said. “But besides it, they have golf carts. That’s completely normal in many places in America.”