"World's lightest 4x4" gets disabled folk back to the great outdoors
North Carolina company Outrider USA has launched what it claims is the lightest production 4x4 ever. The new Cougar is an all-electric, single-seat off-road vehicle designed to put outdoor adventures back on the menu for people with reduced mobility.
Portability has been a key design goal; it folds to fit in a compact hatchback, provided you fold the back seats down, and it's the lightest vehicle in its class, with base models starting at 130 lb (59 kg).
Things are even easier if you can haul a small trailer, although you'd need to be pretty inventive, not to mention brave, to load and unload one of these things solo without the use of your legs.
The top powertrain option combines a 5-kW 4WD setup with independent, adjustable suspension and a 6-kWh battery pack, offering range figures between 80-140 miles (130-225 km). Big, knobby tires on 20-inch rims contribute to some seven inches (18 cm) of ground clearance.
