Citicar

The CitiCar was produced between 1974 and 1977 by a U.S. company called Sebring-Vanguard, Inc., based in Sebring, Florida. The CitiCar and variants were the most produced American electric car until surpassed by the Tesla Roadster in 2011. Sebring-Vanguard was sold to Commuter Vehicles, Inc., which produced similar vehicles (the Comuta-Car and Comuta-Van) from 1979 to 1982. Its outer design lives on in the Norwegian Kewet. Accounting for all CitiCar variants, a total of 4,444 units were produced up to 1979, the most since 1945 from a North American manufacturer until surpassed by the Tesla Model S.

History

Inspired by Club Car's golf cart design and partly in response to the 1970s fuel crisis, a company called Sebring-Vanguard produced its first electric vehicle, the Vanguard Coupe (sometimes referred to as the EV Coupe), in 1974. Company founder and President Robert G. Beaumont, working with designer Jim Muir, came up with the CitiCar after this earlier EV Coupe was not an immediate success. This second attempt was still based on a lot of the Club Car's mechanical features, though.