Swiss bubble-car maker cries foul over incentives limited to large EVs

Benedikt Wechsler, Switzerland's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, drives his Microlino through Paris on March 25. Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

The entrepreneur behind the Micro scooter craze that took the world by storm is taking on the Swiss government over climate benefits that exclude his latest venture – the Microlino electric “bubble car”.

Wim Ouboter is contesting Switzerland’s carbon trading regulations, arguing they unfairly exclude his two-seat electric vehicle (EV) from a system that financially benefits larger global rivals such as Tesla.

Launched in 2022 by Ouboter’s Micro Mobility Systems, the Microlino is an electric microcar inspired by the 1950s classic Italian Isetta and built in Turin, the historic heart of Italy’s car industry.

Micro, which generates roughly CHF70 million ($87 million) in annual turnover, has ploughed profits from its scooter business into the bubble cars, several thousand of which have been sold across Europe.

At the heart of the dispute is a technical distinction. Only vehicles classified as “passenger cars” are included in Switzerland’s emissions system, under which importers of petrol vehicles buy carbon credits from EV companies to meet fleet emissions targets.

The Microlino is denied that benefit because it falls into the “motorcycle” category, which is excluded from the regime.

“It feels like the rules were written for big manufacturers, not for innovation,” Obouter said, warning he could be forced to shift production to China if the rules did not change.

Court challenge

After several unsuccessful attempts to persuade the authorities to alter the regulations, Micro has requested a formal ruling from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy so it can challenge the classification policy in court.

Micro’s legal effort is being led by Cordelia Bähr, the lead lawyer behind a landmark case at the European Court of Human Rights that resulted in a 2024 ruling that Switzerland’s failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions could be considered a violation of citizens’ rights.

Bähr told the FT there was no clear reason to exclude vehicles such as the Microlino, which “contribute to reducing emissions”.

She added that the challenge could extend beyond national courts. Microlinos also miss out on EU supercredits for cars made in Europe, for example.

The government said the system was designed to target the largest sources of emissions and warned of the risk of “weakening CO₂ regulations through cheap imports” of smaller vehicle categories if they were included, as their emissions are not measured under the same standards.

Move to China?

For Ouboter, the dispute echoes earlier battles. His Micro scooters, conceived in Zurich in the late 1990s, became a global craze but were briefly restricted in markets such as Germany as regulators struggled to classify them.

As Europe wrestles with how to cut transport emissions, the challenge cuts to the heart of a broader debate over whether climate policies designed to promote EVs are favouring larger cars.

Microlinos are priced relatively highly for smaller cars, selling for roughly €15,000-€22,000 (CHF13,800-CHF20,300), a level Ouboter said would fall if it qualified for the same incentives as larger EVs. Micro said the costs also reflected the fact the cars were handmade in Italy from strong steel.

Ouboter said the unit production cost of roughly €13,000 would fall to about €7,000 if the cars were made in China. He said Chinese government-linked groups had offered up to €20 million to support development of a new version, while Italy had discussed possible support if the company committed fresh capital of its own.

City driving

Unlike conventional passenger cars, current versions do not include features such as airbags – something Ouboter acknowledges is a serious limitation. “Future versions will have them,” he said.

The Microlino is built for short urban trips, not motorways, and comes in two versions – one with its speed capped at about 45km/h and a faster model reaching roughly 90km/h – reflecting what Ouboter said is the reality of city driving.

Data from the European Commission and OECD-backed mobility studies show that most trips are short and slow, with average daily trip distances of about 20km-27km and typical speeds of about 30km/h–33km/h, while cars in urban areas carry little more than one person on average.

“Cars are massively over-engineered for what people actually do every day,” Ouboter said. “If we are serious about emissions, we need to start using smaller cars.”

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