Small cars need to lighten up

“New technologies, like electric drive, will certainly have a big impact in the future, but not in the next three years,” he says. “We should also be concentrating on small, simple cars – the cheap cars, not only on expensive technological breakthroughs.”

Which is where, perhaps unsurprisingly, Ulrich’s company Loremo comes in. Loremo is developing an ultra-light, aerodynamic car that will dramatically cut fuel consumption, at its premises in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany. The company hopes to have the car in large-scale production by 2011.

From Bavaria to NRW
Loremo – the name is a combination of ‘low resistance mobile’ – is an independent company funded by private investors. It was given an additional financial boost when NRW government offered to invest in the enterprise, prompting Loremo to relocate to NRW from its previous home in Bavaria. The company’s team of designers and engineers, headed by Ulrich, is now working in earnest on getting the car into the mainstream.

Downsizing does the trick
"The unique thing about the Loremo car is that we’re focusing purely on energy consumption from ‘behind the engine’, which helps us design the most efficient body and chassis possible," says Ulrich. "Our focus is one hundred per cent on weight and wind resistance, not fuel types, engine refinements and other technological work."

The Loremo will weigh around 550 kg – less than a Smart Car – and use approximately seventy per cent less fuel than the average small car, thanks to its pared-down, steel construction and innovative aerodynamic design which incorporates upward-opening doors and backward-facing rear seats. Its unique cylindrical structure gives it impressive strength, making it safe despite its low weight. Powered by a

light-weight engine of moderate power it will be capable of reaching speeds of 160 km/h. It will come in petrol, diesel and electric models, and is expected to retail from around €17,000.

'Heavy-weight' competitor
Loremo is one of only a handful of manufacturers concentrating on the development of small, highly-efficient cars. Indeed, in the ultra-efficient category, Loremo has a potential competitor in only one other model: the Volkswagen one-litre car, also known as the 1L, which uses conventional drive technology. It is, says Ulrich, welcome competition; he likes the VW 1L, and hopes it will appear on the market at the same time as the Loremo.

Focus on efficiency
Looking ahead to a future when sustainable energy becomes less an alternative and more a necessity, Ulrich acknowledges the importance of electric vehicles (EVs), and believes Germany’s target of putting one million EVs on its roads by 2020 is a realistic one. But he also believes that in this time scale there will continue to be new innovations in mobility, making it all the more important that there should be a constant focus on energy efficiency.

"The total energy efficiency of cars has to be the priority," he explains. "We cannot solve the mobility problems of the future without reducing driving resistance, making cars smaller, lighter and more aerodynamic – whatever their drive systems."