Great metropolises like London have faced steady growing populations, causing overcrowding and over-congestion. Despite the trend, automakers are still convinced that car buyers are looking for bigger and bigger cars despite the steady decrease of real estate. According to Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, the only logical solution that can effectively address cramped city streets is the creation of smaller cars. To prove his point, Clarkson introduced the smallest car the world has ever seen.
Introduced in the first episode of the motoring TV show's latest season, Jeremy Clarkson enlisted the help from automotive design students of Coventry University to design the world's smallest conceivable car that can still be operated on the road. The end result is the P45 microcar. Inspired by the Peel P50, the previous record holder of the smallest car title, the P45 earns its name by possessing even shorter and narrower dimensions
Boasting an all-aluminum body, the P45 looks more like a car that's worn like a suit of armor than a car with a cabin a driver can get into. In fact, the doors shut across the driver's chest like a medieval torturing device. The roof? The roof is a pot with a porthole to see out of. However, just as the P45 begins to sound a bit unattractive, the car also boasts a pair of blue racing stripes, which commonly indicates that the P45 is a sport-oriented automobile that offers an extra level of racing performance.
When Jeremy Clarkson took the P45 out for a real world test drive, the car performed surprising well on the main roads. If Clarkson could only manage to avoid face-smashing potholes, or the violent crosswinds from rapid traffic that passes by, the vehicle's ride quality is actually quite reasonable. What's more, Clarkson noted that the tidy package also manages to include a practical windscreen wash-wipe squeegee option to improve visibility in wet conditions.
Despite the ingenious engineering, the P45 will require a truly unique feature in order to offer enough incentive for a consumer to actually consider purchasing this odd and tiny vehicle as a daily driver -- which brings us to the P45's party piece. As Jeremy Clarkson demonstrates when he enters into a gas station, and later a luxurious shopping center, the joy of owning a P45 is that parking will no longer be an issue because you'll never have to leave your car. Thanks to the P45's clever design, the driver's arms are always exposed and readily capable of grabbing anything in arm's length. What's more, the P45 is so narrow that in can fit through the doors and the elevators of any building, which means that a driver wouldn't have to leave the car even when he or she has arrived to his destination.
Is this the car of the future? See for yourself. We highly recommend you watch the full 18 minute segment of Top Gear's P45 program. However, if long videos do not suit your internet browsing habits, we have also included the shorter 3 minute clip as well!
