It’s like IKEA, but for your car.
Flat Camry
Swedish furniture house IKEA has become internationally recognized for its space-saving and highly affordable flat pack furniture that you can assemble yourself after buying.
Now, one manufacturer is attempting to apply a similar model to the automobile. A new Stockholm-based startup called Luvly has unveiled a new car that can be shipped in flat pack form.
The result is what the company is calling the Luvly O, an adorable 992-pound electric two-seater “microcar,” with a range of 62 miles and a top speed of 55 mph.
The key difference from Ikea, unfortunately? While it can easily fit in the back of a truck in its disassembled form, it needs to be put together by an actual car plant before it can be delivered to customers, as CNN points out — and that shouldn’t be surprising, considering safety standards and regulations.
Some Assembly Required
While you won’t be crowding over a complicated instruction manual, Luvly CEO Håkan Lutz told CNN that IKEA was still hugely influential in the development of the Luvly O, saying that the startup aims to do what the furniture company did for the automobile industry, offering “good enough quality and very nice design, cheaply and efficiently for everybody.”
Speaking of affordability, the company is aiming for the Luvly O — which is still in the prototype stage — to cost around $10,500 when it goes on sale next year.
The O’s frame is made out of padded aluminum and plastic foam, designed to absorb forces in the event of a collision. The battery is swappable as well, greatly enhancing its usefulness to the daily commuter.
“For light vehicles to compete with cars, and hopefully out-compete cars, they must be safe,” Lutz told CNN. “People will not accept that you switch from driving an SUV to driving what is essentially a scooter with a shell.”
More on microcars: Jaw-Dropping Electric Mini Racer Accelerates to 62 MPH In Less Than a Second
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