Incredible ‘minicar’ with retractable wheels that make it easy to drive through tight spaces

Whether it’s fitting into a tight parking space or down a narrow country road, at some point we’ve all wished our cars were just a little narrower, if only for a little while.

Well, an Israeli start-up may have come up with a solution to this predicament after unveiling a new shape-shifting ‘minicar’ with retractable wheels that allow it to fit into spaces just 100cm wide.

Thanks to its morphing capabilities, the €16,000 (£13,932) electric City Transformer (CT-1) ‘outsmarts traffic like a motorcycle’, but ‘rides safely and easily like a car’, according to its designers.

They claim that four CT-1s can fit in just one standard-sized parking space, increasing the chances of finding a perfect spot by 10.

Traffic chaos could also drop thanks to the “pioneering” vehicle, the engineers say, allowing motorists to navigate winding cities with ease.

The designers said: ‘City Transformer is a unique automotive tech company: it designs, develops and manufactures innovative foldable smart electric vehicles for major international cities.

‘Mobility as a Service’ is the ethos that underpins City Transformer. It is this vision that will spark the revolution in intelligent, clean and efficient mobility – offering road users a new sense of sustainable freedom.”

Drivers of the ultra-compact car can switch between two different settings depending on the type of journey they want to take.

Performance mode extends the CT-1’s wheels to make the vehicle act more like a car, while City mode rolls it back onto the car’s frame.

This reduces the width of the car from 1.4 m (4.5 ft) to 1 m (3.2 ft), allowing city dwellers to travel short distances with ease.

The CT-1’s gull-wing doors also provide a stress-free exit in areas where there is not enough room to swing doors open.

Despite its diminutive size, the two-seater CT-1 can travel at nearly 100 km/h, with the designers also boasting an 80 percent fast charge time in less than an hour.

It can travel more than 110 miles before needing a recharge – which the company says is equivalent to six ‘city car trips’.

The Tel Aviv-based designers claim that four CT-1s fit in one standard parking space

The car operates between two different modes, reducing and increasing the width

The CT-1’s gull-wing doors can also make it easier to exit the vehicle in a confined space

Performance Mode (pictured left) extends the CT-1’s wheels to make the vehicle act more like a car, while City Mode (right) rolls it back onto the car’s frame. This reduces the width of the car from 1.4m to 1m, making it easy for city dwellers to take short city trips

CT-1s are currently available for pre-order for €16,000 (£13,932), but this does not include any additional taxes. The first models should roll off the production line at the end of 2024, or possibly in 2025.

The design also follows numerous other small car inventions suitable for driving on narrow roads.

Last year, Elio designed a small three-wheeled vehicle that goes from 0 to 100 km/h in just 9.6 seconds.

This was on sale for $6,800 (£4,075), with enough room for just two passengers.

Sussex’s Alex Orchin also showed off his quirky Peel P50 last year which was just 103cm long.

In 2010, the Peel was entered into the Guinness World Records and awarded the title of the smallest production car ever made.