Peugeot Tulip
Weird Car of the Day #256: 1995 Peugeot Tulip – Car Sharing, But ’90s
It's 1995, and it's France. You're a cog in the Peugeot-Citroën machine, and you've been tasked with creating a new and important all-electric car sharing prototype called the Tulip.
Do you rejoice and tell your friends it's amazing that the minds PSA have surely (as history has shown us) predicted the future? Or do you leave work early, impulsively buy those hot pants at Printemps, and hurry home for a dinner of Meteor?
I'm not sure what I'd have done, but the concept seems to make a lot of sense, with aspects used in a number of car sharing services. When we lived in Toronto, I was a happy, card-carrying member of a mostly smart fortwo-based car2go, which was surprisingly convenient, affordable, and (usually) one of the fastest ways for two to get around town.
The Tulip was a network of induction-charged electric city cars that were charged, docked, and rented from small "relay points" that today are mostly analogous to the Tesla Supercharger style of charger that now dominate the electric car space.
It wasn't named for a flower: French people love acronyms, so Tulip is really "Transport Urbain Libre Individuel et Public".
michael banovsky
1995 Peugeot Tulip. Note the gigantic wiper that seems to have gone missing from more recent photos of the car… • via Peugeot
In 1995, the system relied on "personal remote control units" for customers in lieu of cell phones; a phone was built into the car.
Acceleration was a priority, but the car didn't have much go — just consider its dumpy top speed of 75 km/h (46 mph), like the current Citroën Ami and Fiat Topolino. No matter; the bright tulip-coloured interior would have kept your eyes entertained.
Unlike the car2go units that are subtly modified for fleet use inside and out, the Tulip is a car built for public use, like a miniaturized bus straight out of Wayne Szalinski's laboratory.
1995 Peugeot Tulip • via Aguttes
That said, the key here is the year, 1995. Urban transport, car sharing, electric city runabouts — it's nothing new to us. What is new are the ways these things are being implemented, with the cell phone, GPS, and an always-connected internet mingling with the possibility of autonomous operation.
The worst thing about car2go was parking; often a lot near my work was full by the time I arrived, and I earned at least one ticket for fully-utilizing the available space in a parking lot to park the fortwo…sometimes if there was no defined space available.
Anyway, It's been 30 years since the Tulip. The idea is modern and fresh, but the technology needs a bit of work. I suspect it won't take engineers much longer to figure out the problems associated with car sharing — only this time, Tulip best include our choice of a flip phone or app.
READ NEXT: The non-running Peugeot Tulip was sold as part of the Peugeot Museum auction in 2023 — hammering for €16500 at Aguttes.
michael banovsky
