Designer motoring from Renault

It's no secret that everyone at Liv Design loves cars and motorbikes. In fact, automotive design is one of our favourite areas of inspiration. Two wheels or four wheels - we love them all. They are such a feature of everyday life. Wherever you go you see them or use them, and most of us spend a lot of time in one on a daily basis.

There has been a tendency for manufacturers to play it safe recently and aim new models firmly at the mainstream. Makes fair enough business sense. The recession has ruled out a lot of projects and development budgets have been reduced. It's nice to see one of the manufacturers daring to do something different and radical. Electric cars are becoming a realistic alternative with many brands releasing (or about to release) new electric vehicles such as Mitsubishi's iMiEV, the Mini e and Nissan's Leaf, though none of them looking particularly affordable (think around £23k-£28k!)

What if there was a manufacturer that thought "let's rip up the rulebook and do something crazy?" Cue a quirky little left-field model from cheeky French car maker Renault – the Twizy (shame about the name). Here's a bit of real va-va-voom (sorry, had to do that). This is one of a number of proposed electric cars due for release in 2012. Yes, it's not a concept car! Can you see one of these on the High Street? Beats a Smart car hands down on the cool factor.

It's a fully electric 2 seater available with two engine sizes, 4kw (suitable for 16 year olds to drive!) which will do 27mph and the 15KW making 46mph making it firmly a city run-about. It's barely larger than a scooter, has a great turning circle, and scissor doors! There will be an array of funky colour schemes and extras. Our fave is the Tron-like model.

It's a great move for Renault to recapture the spirit of motoring and hark back to the cheeky avantgarde days of previous French models. It's also a massive step forward, not only in terms of technology and design but also in approach. Electric cars are still prohibitively expensive and look like their conventional petrol cousins. If Renault get the pricing right and there is enough PR they could have the first zero emissions car to be positively embraced by the general public.

Does it remind anyone else from the back of the character Cyclops (Scott) from the X-Men or the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still??