For those who look forward to own the affordable, environmental friendly and funky Renault Twizy in Singapore, here’s some bad news for you. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of the Singaporean Government has declared that the Twizy is not fit for Singaporean roads and it can only be used as an expensive toy on private properties.
This is because LTA has rejected Renault dealer Wearnes Automotive’s request to classify the Twizy as a motorcycle. By registering it as a motorcycle , it will allow the Twizy to be sold at an attractive $25,000. Furthermore, it would be disastrous for Wearnes to classify it as a car as it will land the Twizy as Category A COE, which will increase the price to more than $80,000.
The LTA had mentioned that based on the country’s Road Traffic Act, it states that a motorcycle is a vehicle with less than four wheels and weights not exceed 400kg. The 450kg four-wheel Twizy basically did not meet that criteria. To put the final nail in the coffin, the LTA classified the quadricycle as a car and it doesn’t meet the minimum safety requirements to be registered as a car in Singapore.
The Renault Twizy is essentially an electric quadricycle that seats two and can travel up to 80km after 3.5 hours of charging its 6.1 kWh lithium-ion batteries. It is known as Nissan Mobility Concept in Japan as well.
Closer to home, word has it that the Twizy is set to arrive in Malaysia in the second half of 2014. Renault has already introduced the Fluence saloon in May this year and there’s a possibility that the company will bring in the Twizy as well. However, we don’t know how JPJ will classify the Twizy based on Malaysia’s regulations. Let’s hope that JPJ won’t follow LTA’s steps when it comes to classifying this vehicle.
[Source: CarBuyer SG]
