If history (of the cabin scooter) repeats itself ...
Hardly anyone remembers the 1950s, when BMW launched the Isetta (top left in the picture). BMW was not alone at the time, as there was also Mr. Jakob Oswald Hoffmann. With the Hoffmann Auto-Kabine 250 (top right in the picture), he wanted to bring his own version of the Isetta cab scooter onto the market, but did not receive a license from the Italians. Hoffmann still wanted to build his little car and so he changed some details, including dispensing with the front door and opting for a side entrance. BMW was not happy about the unwanted competition, took legal action and won. After 100 Hoffmann cabins for DM 2900, it was the end.
65 years later, we seem to be at the same stage again. In 2016, Micro presented the Microlino at the Geneva Motor Show.
The modern cabin scooter was based on the design of the BMW Isetta, but went its own way in terms of drive technology with an electric motor. There was a front door, however, as well as a steering wheel that folded away for easy access.
The Microlino attracted a lot of attention, the Ouboter family, who were behind Micro and the Microlino, continued to develop the vehicle and finally concluded a cooperation agreement with an Italian company that was to build the microcar.
However, the Italian businessman sold his shares in the joint company to Artega in Germany. And Artega now brought its own cabin scooter to the IAA, the Artega Karo.
This story also seems to have to be decided in court. And the appearance in Frankfurt apparently already contradicted the decision of the Munich Regional Court. However, Artega Managing Director Klaus Dieter Frers does not seem to care much about this. He is probably hoping for better decisions from the next higher courts.
Unfortunately, the whole mess doesn't help anyone, because consumers who have already ordered a Microlino are still waiting for the now more advanced version of the Swiss cabin scooter, while it is at least unclear whether Artega Karo customers who make an initial payment of EUR 2500 will ever get their ecological micro-car.
So history is repeating itself, at least in part, and we will probably not know for another five or ten years whether the end will be the same.
