Norway’s Think launching global electric car next year

Posted Mon Jul 23 2007 8:22 AM by Alex Kaufmann

Think Global is a Norwegian based manufacturer of electric vehicles and is the company behind the original ‘Th!nk’ electric car that went on sale in the US during the late ‘90s. Back then, Think was owned by Ford who sold it in 2003 to Swiss company Kamkorp Microelectronics. In 2006 Think went bankrupt and was subsequently rescued by a group of Norwegian investors.

Today, it's preparing to launch its second-generation City electric minicar in Scandinavia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, with the first cars tipped to arrive by next year. Production will start in autumn at a plant on Oslo, with up to 10,000 units expected to roll off the line, reports Automotive News Europe.

Though these low cost minicars are ideal for Europe’s congested cities and exorbitant fuel prices, such a car probably wouldn’t fare well on American highways up against heavy SUVs and trucks several times its size. Buyers would find it most useful in congested cities like New York, which also happens to be the target market for the new Smart cars.

MotorAuthority