Is the world ready for a car that can be worn?
Jeremy Clarkson, host of the UK show "Top Gear," debuted the "World's Smallest Car" during the premiere of his series' nineteenth season this week. In addition to testdriving the strange little vehicle - that a person can literally don like a robotic suit of armor - Clarkson also designed what he calls the P45 as a response to Britain's three-wheeled Peel P50.
Whereas Clarkson's "Top Gear" is "the most popular factual series in the world," according to ABC News, his specialized little car is being laughingly lambasted as possibly "the worst car ever made."
"I promise it's a real car," says Clarkson.
One look at the unintentionally hilarious video of Clarkson scurrying around in his vehicular opus makes it clear this is one toy that might best for backyard use only.
Despite ABC newscasters making mention of how "slim" the P45 appears, along with its unique ability of allowing the driver to fill up the auto's tank without having to step outside, they also jibe that "it has some problems with potholes, as you might imagine."
Watching Clarkson-cum-Motorman haphazardly weave throughout the roads leads one newscaster to opine snarkly, "Highways? No promises there, folks. You can do that pretty much at your own risk."
At one point on the P45 episode of "Top Gear" - which airs on BBC and has been hosted by Clarkson since 1988 - the driver/designer does indeed run afoul a pothole, resulting in his near caroming off the road while pleading, "If you're watching this in the edit, make sure that doesn't go on television. I don't want people to think it's a deathtrap."
While bragging about the ingenuity of a car such as the P45, Clarkson continues throughout the unabridged segment almost swerving off the road with each pothole he comes across, crying out more than once in pain and dire anxiety.
The car, which "makes you look like a LEGO astronaut," seems - in the words of Slate Magazine - "terrifying."
Yahoo! News refers to the vehicle simply as "the smallest/worst car... in the world" and also chides Clarkson's lack of reverence for the P45's "spiritual forbearer. The Kenguru EV - less an electric car than a set of four wheels, windshield and safety gear that surrounds drivers in wheelchairs who want to travel short distances on public streets at speeds of less than 28 mph. "
The P45, meanwhile, has a four-wheel all-terrain drivetrain, a helmet for a roof, a visor for a windshield, and no side doors.
"I'm just staggered that ford GM, Toyota, all of the automotive giants haven't thought to make a car like this yet," Clarkson says in the demo segment (when not screaming for his life).
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