City car

A city car (also known as urban car or a mini) is a small car designed to be used primarily in urban areas and conurbations.

The term is used along with other terms for small cars including subcompact in North America. The Euro NCAP calls all small cars superminis. The European Commission refers to A-segment (Utility/city class: entry level small passenger car).

In Japan, the kei car (軽自動車, keijidōsha^?, lit. "light automobile") is a specific type of small car.

The original concept for the city car came about as a result of the growing market for entry level vehicles in the 1920s and 1930s. The great depression caused the market for large, luxurious vehicles to collapse. As a result, manufactures had no choice but to build small, cheap vehicles that people could afford, similar to early 20th century "runabouts". However, these vehicles were not specifically branded as vehicles to use in cities or congested areas. They were purely for use as ; cars designed to be cheap, sell a large number of units, and put people who had not owned cars on wheels. A number of these small, cheap cars were sold before the war, including the 1920s Austin 7, 1930s Fiat 500 "Topolino" and the 1940s Crosley.

After the Second World War, a number of manufacturers introduced microcars, which contained many of the elements that City Cars would come to be known for, such as small size and good maneuverability. Microcars were also among the first cars to marketed on their good parking ability; for example, Iso, and later BMW used the Isetta's front hinged door as a marketing advantage, saying you could pull into a parallel parking spot nose forward and exit onto the sidewalk using the door.

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