World’s narrowest car unveiled in Italy

Rome: It looks like something from a cartoon or a Harry Potter movie, where the dimensions of a normal car have been comically squished.

But this ultra-slim electric vehicle, unveiled in Italy, is a real fully-functioning passenger vehicle.

The Fiat Panda, just 19.6 inches (50cm) wide, fits a driver in the front and one passenger in the back – as long as they’re slender enough.

The car will appeal to those left infuriated by wasted space at a car park, as it can fit in some of the tightest of gaps.

But it’s been getting a mixed response on social media, with commenters calling it ‘impractical’, ‘ugly’ and ‘nuts’.

One Reddit user joked: ‘They’ve got a Flintstones hatch where you just put your feet down on the ground to stabilize yourself.’

A fourth Reddit user posted: ‘Average American wouldn’t fit, while a fifth said: ‘I’m getting claustrophobic just looking at it.’

Someone else pointed out: ‘I’d be shocked if this was designed with anything like health and safety regulations in mind.’

The remarkable vehicle was handcrafted by 30-year-old Italian mechanic Andrea Marazzi, who used original materials from a 1993 model Fiat Panda.

He demonstrated it at a recent festival celebrating 45 years of the Fiat Panda in the Italian town of Pandino, southeast of Milan.

And in response to suggestions the vehicle could be felled by the slightest of wind, Marazzi demonstrated its stability with some robust pushing.

‘Many people think that it will tip over just by blowing but they are wrong,’ he said in a video posted to Instagram, translated from Italian.

‘Look here – you have to push it a little and it will wobble but it won’t [fall over].’

As well as being just 19.6 inches (50cm) wide, the car weighs 264 kg, stands at 57 inches (145cm) tall, and is 133 inches (340cm) long, Design Boom reports.

Another said: ‘The only car allowed in the bike lane’, while someone else posted: ‘I can see Mr. Bean driving this.’

Despite its slender build, it has several features that normal cars have, including four wheels, two rear-view mirrors and two passenger doors either side of the driver.

At the back is a small space for a passenger who has to be of a very short and slender build, ideally a child.

The car also packs a steering wheel, indicator lights, and a single headlight for cruising at night, but no license plates.

And rather than packing a gas engine under the bonnet, it runs on a 24V electric battery and motor taken from an e-scooter, which means it only goes at nine miles per hour (15 km per hour), which is too slow to take to the roads.

But Mr Marazzi is in the process of submitting the car for a Guinness World Record as the slimmest functioning vehicle ever made.

Gaurav Sood, consumer electronics expert at Yanko Design, called it more of an ‘art installation than transport solution’.

‘The narrow Panda invites viewers to rethink proportions, functionality, and playfulness in mechanical design,’ he said.

‘It’s a rolling experiment – part engineering challenge, part tribute, and part public spectacle.’