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Last updated
26 Feb 1998



sinclair@nvg.ntnu.no

Sinclair to cross C5 with Reliant Robin

THE TIMES, 31 January 1996

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Jonathan Prynn, Transport Correspondent

A CAR combining features from two of Britain's most lampooned vehicles is being planned by the inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. The man who created the failed C5 confirmed yesterday that he had been in talks to cross it with a fibreglass Reliant Robin. The project to unite the three-wheelers into a new "about-town" electric car is on hold as Reliant Motors was put into administration before Christmas with debts of £1.5 million and administrators are talking to potential buyers.

Sir Clive, also the brain behind Sinclair computers, said: "We hope funds can be found to get the situation resolved. We have been talking for a few months. The vehicle would be a lightweight but robust design for local use. It would be highly reliable, cost next to nothing to run, and cost very little to service as there is very little to wear out. It won't take you from London to Scotland, but you would use another car for that."

The proposed electric car would be about the size of a Rover Metro. A prototype is expected to be available in about two years' time if the project goes ahead. Sir Clive launched the C5 - a one-man, plastic, electric tricycle - in 1985, but it quickly became an object of ridicule. Production ceased after six months, but they have since become collectors' items.