Cars in European cities are smaller than ever. But as Europe’s appetite for microcars has grown, the cute Italian ‘yoghurt pots’ have largely given way to small Chinese EVs. Even Smart, the the iconic ultracompact car brand, has moved manufacturing to China.
Spanish startup Liux thinks it can compete in a crowded market with a tiny electric car built around sustainability.
Following the tracks of the Microlino out of Switzerland, Liux is trying to carve out a place in the market with its upcoming microcar, the Liux Big. The “Big” name is a joke. It is small enough to park at a right angle to the curb; but the name also reflects the oversized ambitions of a team that rarely takes the expected route.
“The idea of a European car does not exist,” Liux co-founder Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros told TechCrunch. Coming from the CEO of a startup whose cars are already making headlines for being “made in Spain,” it was a surprising take — and one that reveals a lot about the company’s priorities.
It is true that Liux opened Spain’s first new car plant in more than 30 years. But as we sat down in its elegant showroom, Espinosa and his co-founder David Sancho said they had concluded that a fully sovereign supply chain is unattainable. Instead, Liux is trying to navigate that reality while keeping sustainability as its north star.
