Sinclair C5
A Sinclair C5
Launched in Britain in January 1985, the Sinclair C5 was a three-wheeled personal transport electric vehicle invented by Sir Clive Sinclair. Relatively cheap to purchase, (it sold for £399 + £29 for delivery), it quickly became an object of popular ridicule, and was a commercial disaster, only around 12,000 being sold.
The C5 had a top speed of just 15 mph (24 km/h) on the flat (even slower up hill) and suffered from a number of design problems including the fact that cold weather could significantly shorten battery life. Exposure of the driver to weather (a big problem in the British climate). And because it was low and close to the ground, doubts were raised about the C5's safety in traffic. These were flippantly expressed in a contemporary cartoon showing a C5 and a juggernaut approaching each other at a blind corner, the C5 being occupied by a family of lemmings.
