Biscúter (Spanish spelling for the pronunciation of Biscooter) was a microcar manufactured in Spain during the mid-20th century.

Raw material shortages and general economic difficulties in Europe following the Second World War made very small, economical cars popular in many countries. In Spain, following the Civil War and the embargo declared by the United Nations to the General Francisco Franco's dictatorship, the situation was similar. As Spain's economy was relatively isolated from the developed world, the post-war economic situation lasted for almost two decades. The country operated at a lower economic level than the rest of Western Europe, and was forced to develop domestic substitutes for hard-to-get imported products and technologies. The Biscúter, tiny, simple, and cheap even by microcar standards, was a product of this economic environment and was well suited to its time and market.

The car actually had its origins in France in the late 1940s, where aircraft designer Gabriel Voisin had designed a minimal car called the Biscooter. The playful name implied that it was about the size of two motorscooters, or a scooter with four wheels. The design drew no interest from either manufacturers or consumers there, however, and he eventually licensed it to Spanish firm Autonacional S.A. of Barcelona. By the time it was introduced in 1953, the marque had been hispanicized to Biscúter. The first car had no formal model name and was called simply the Series 100, but it soon became known as the Zapatilla, or little shoe (clog), after a low-heeled peasant slipper popular at the time.




This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscúter

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