The Amble One Is a Street-Legal Moon Buggy That Wants to Be Your Second Car

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Portuguese startup called Amble thinks cars have gotten too big, too fast — and it has built something refreshingly small to prove the point.

The Amble One is a premium, street-legal electric buggy with neo-retro styling that draws equal inspiration from the Apollo Lunar Rover and the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. Developed by a team of alumni from Apple, Audi, and premium e-bike maker Cowboy, the compact EV is designed not to replace your family car, but to become the second vehicle you actually want to drive for short trips.

“Most European and American families have two cars on average,” Amble CEO Adrien Roose told The Verge. “One car brings the freedom you need for highways and long weekends. The second vehicle is mostly used for school runs, grocery shopping, and neighborhood trips. We want to be the ultimate solution for those short trips.”

Small and Light by Design

The Amble One is built to Europe’s L7e quadricycle regulations, which means the entire vehicle — battery included — must weigh under 450 kilograms (992 pounds). Achieving that target sparked some of the team’s most intense engineering debates, Roose said.

The result is an open-air vehicle with no doors, folding front seats, a digital display, and physical controls trimmed in leather and cork — a nod to Amble’s Portuguese roots. There’s a front cargo rack for luggage, rear seats that fold flat for surfboards or gear, and built-in mounts for baskets, straps, mirrors, and other accessories.

Under the skin, a 15 kW electric motor and an 11 kWh battery deliver a top speed of 40 mph (65 km/h) and a range of up to 62 miles (100 km) on a single charge. A standard wall outlet replenishes the battery in about five hours.

Inspired by the Moon and the G-Wagen

Roose is quick to dismiss the “glorified golf cart” label. “The inspiration comes initially from the Lunar Rover,” he said. “They also looked at older 4x4s like the G-Wagen, which is very famous for its flat surfaces.”

The design pedigree backs up the ambition. Julian Hoenig, Amble’s design lead, worked on the Audi R8, RSQ, A4, and Q3 during his time at Audi, and later contributed to the Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and Project Titan at Apple. The company’s chairman, José António Uva, is a Portuguese hotelier who transformed his family’s eighth-generation estate into the luxury retreat São Lourenço do Barrocal.

From Resorts to Neighborhoods

Amble is initially targeting fleet sales to hotels and resorts — places where traditional cars are unnecessary or too large. But Roose says an unexpectedly enthusiastic response since launch is accelerating the company’s timeline.

“We are going to be forced to adapt our plans and accelerate the deployment of the street-legal version in the US,” he said.

Customers can reserve an Amble One with a $100 deposit, with deliveries targeted for 2028. The starting price is $25,000, and Roose says the company already has over 1,000 reservations.

Rather than manufacturing the vehicles itself, Amble has partnered with an undisclosed Tier 1 automotive supplier employing roughly 1,100 people. Motors come from Germany, reducers from Italy, and batteries from China. Initial US-bound vehicles will be exported from Europe before the company establishes American manufacturing.

A Growing Segment

The Amble One enters a burgeoning microcar market that includes the Microlino, Citroën Ami, Fiat Topolino, and the growing enthusiast subculture around Japanese kei cars. But while Americans continue gravitating toward ever-larger trucks and SUVs — which now make up about 80 percent of new vehicles sold — Roose believes there’s an underserved audience that genuinely enjoys driving but wants something smaller.

“Many people have this huge pickup,” Roose said. “But next to it, they have these golf carts. And that’s perfectly normal in many places in America.”

With its moon-buggy looks, premium materials, and sub-450 kg curb weight, the Amble One is betting that less really can be more — and that sometimes the best car for the job isn’t really a car at all.

Amble on Know the Tech

The Amble One Is a Street-Legal Moon Buggy That Wants to Be Your Second Car

Small and Light by Design

Inspired by the Moon and the G-Wagen

From Resorts to Neighborhoods

A Growing Segment