VentureOne Tilting Trike To Be Sub-$20k

I've wanted one of Carver's insanely cool tilting trikes ever since seeing them on the BBC's Top Gear years ago – they use a system called Dynamic Vehicle Control (DVC) which allows for controlled motion up to 45-degrees either direction off centre.  The Carver One was the first production machine using the technology, a niche product resembling something like a fighter-plane cockpit or battle helicopter, and I've got to say I fell so much in love that when recently changing cars I did some number crunching to see if I could afford one.

Needless to say, I couldn't: in the UK the Carver One started at £27,650, and though it wasn't on-sale in the US they were estimating a cost of $45,000 with all the import charges and re-engineering required.  Now comes the news that a Californian company called Venture Vehicles have licenced the DVC technology to be used in an upcoming trike called VentureOne.

VentureOne takes the Carver concept and commercialises it, bolting in that current environmentalist's fetish the Hybrid Drive and boasting over 100mpg despite 100+mph speeds and 0-60 in 6 seconds or less.  They've obviously changed the body style too, going for more of a futuristic recumbent bike style (or Tron Bike as my friends over at electro^plankton would have it).  Best news, however, is the target price when it comes to market in 2008: $18,000 for the base model, rising to $23,000 for an all-electric variant.

Please please please say you're selling it in the UK, Venture!  Seriously, I'd buy one.

VentureOne [via electro^plankton]