this is taken from mays motorcycle dealer news that turns up at my mates trike shop..... bleddy unbelievable .... no probably not... bikers are being bent over and reamed with new rules and regulations and car drivers get naff all....  and this turns up   16 year olds are to be able to drive 2 new models of axiam cars...   A change in European licence regulations (the Third Driving Licence Directive) means that 16-year-olds will be able to drive 30mph cars, technically known as quadricycles, from 19 January 2013 on the new AM (moped category) classification licence. To cater for this new market Aixam UK, based in Rugby, Warwickshire, is to import two quadricycle versions which it wants to sell through the bike dealer network. Aixam UK manager Justin Bond sees the motorcycle industry, rather than the mainly solus-orientated car trade, as the best way to retail the four-wheelers. Many bike traders are enthusiasts for the product they sell and Bond sees enthusiasm as a key element for winning sales. He invites dealers to get in touch and says that benefits will include 11 to 15 per cent margins, the attention grabbing novelty of a snappy looking small car in the shop window, and the potential for subsequent motorcycle sales following purchase of an Aixam quadricycle. There is also the possibility of a rental scheme. The two ‘sixteener Aixam models are the GTO and the City S, which Bond thinks will appeal to lads and girls respectively. The initial strategy is to target the youth market, though, of course, the cars could potentially sell to anyone wanting city and town transport. The French-made 28mph/45kph restricted two-seat quadricycles are powered by 400cc twin cylinder Japanese Kubota diesel units driving through CVT transmission to the front wheels. The frame chassis is in aluminium alloy clothed with ABS acrylic bodywork. The GTO will retail at £11,999 including VAT. A price has yet to be finalised for the City S but is expected to be about £10,500. Both models will have a two-year warranty. Bond is looking initially to establish a 30-dealer network via the motorcycle trade and sell 300 units in the first year with expectation of building up to 1000 annual unit sales. Aixam UK already has a car dealer network, which has recendy been contracted to 12 main dealers who supply a network of sub-dealers, but because of the new quadricycle cars Bond is keen to completely revise sales and supply strategy and go with the bike industry. “We think bike dealers have the passion and understand the concept,” says Bond. “Kids live on the internet,” Bond adds, so websites, Facebook and other social media will all be used to the full to promote sales. Aixam UK technical manager Gareth Prewett thinks the quadricycles will be a hit with teenagers and parents “because they are safe, secure, slow and stylish,” he says. Aixam UK currently has a left-hand drive GTO model at its Rugby headquarters for assessment and expects right- hand drive City S models to arrive by October, with GTO models joining them by the end of the year, all in good time for the January licence change. Dealers will be expected to take one unit, but this will have to be paid for, says Bond. There is no stocking plan.  www.aixam.com                                                                                                                                                                             

£12,000 as he been sniffing drain cleaner
                                                                                                                                                                             

28mph and the handling of a unicycle on ball bearings, with the crash resistance of a paper bag, tis indeed good stuff this drain cleaner.                                                                                                                                                                              

and at the same time age for class 1 licence is being dropped to 18 from 21 ...... "moped car" at 16 .... normal car at 17 .... 44 tonne truck at 18.... think i will start supping drain cleaner to see if any of it makes sense                                                                                                                                                                             

There are positives:
It's too expensive. £10-12k for a 16-year-old to shell out when a moped/small bike is so much less? So we won't see many until there are a few second-hands ones.
"safe, secure, slow and stylish" I do vaguely recall being a teen - this would not appeal.
The way a teen will thrape it round the roads showing off - a second hand one won't be fit to own.
So we might well never see one - if we're lucky. If you have a deity .... start praying we don't get a lot more dead and crippled youngsters or dangerously used-up vehicles on the road.                                                                                                                                                                             

I've seen a few Axiams ... NO self respectin teenager will want to go to the barge pole shop I can tell you ... hatefull little things !!!                                                                                                                                                                              

  LOL @ 'barge pole shop'                                                                                                                                                                              

How many 16 year olds are going to be able to afford that sort of money and anyway, few would want one. With a max speed of under 30mph they would be a danger on the country roads where I live.                                                                                                                                                                              

Unless they get their sticky fingers on a standard axiam engine which can propel them around at 60+mph....
With some teens they seem to live in a i want i want culture and its surprising how many parents pander to demands for expensive gifts toys or clothes.... Only time will tell as they say.......

Sounds like a Sinclair C5 with nitrox to me. I don't think we'll see many of these on the roads except for a possible Lands End to John O Groats charity challenge.
                                                                                                                                                                             

It would make a great disabilty scooter    Not sure what Sainsbury's will say when you drive it around their stores