On a work trip to Amsterdam earlier this month, I saw the locals drive tiny cars that I had not seen before. They were only 8 feet long, which is half the length of a small sedan. They’re also much narrower, just wide enough for two normal-sized adults to sit next to each other without any room to spare. I couldn’t get over how cute the cars looked. There were several brands, so there’s clearly a thriving market for those vehicles.
Microcars are common in Amsterdam, but I had not seen them on recent trips to Barcelona, Vienna or Berlin. When I asked my Dutch hosts about the cars, they told me that they were initially designed for people with mobility issues but had since become popular more broadly. They are efficient, because of their small size it’s easy to find parking, and they can use some of the cycle paths that aren’t open to standard cars. Because their top speed is only around 50 kilometers per hour (30 mph), they aren’t allowed on highways.
Back in California, my friend reminded me that I’m not the only one who finds microcars cute: Donald Trump saw them in Japan when he went there in December 2025, and commented that they’re very small, they’re really cute. This is an accurate and to-the-point characterization. He also directed his Transportation Secretary to approve building microcars in the United States. As is usually the case for the occasional initiative Trump takes that I happen to agree with, there has been no progress in this direction so far.
Nehaveigur 