Would You Pay $49,000 for a Car That Only Goes 25 MPH?

• Meyers Manx introduced a new Neighborhood Electric vedhicle called the Resorter at The Quail on Friday.

• It’ll go 25 mph and costs $49,000.

• NEVs were a big deal in the 1990s when carmakers had to meet Zero Emissions Mandates. Now they are, or can be, fun little local transportation units.

Two big news items from the Meyers Manx people at this year’s The Quail: There is a Meyers Manx Neighborhood Electric Vehicle coming out called the Resorter, priced at $49,000 to start; and the price of the freeway-capable Meyers Manx 2.0 will be $79,000 and up. Back in 1964 you could get a Meyers Manx in kit form from Bruce Meyers himself for something like $500. It ain’t 1964 no more.

The Resorter

First, the Resorter. This is a four-seat, 25-mph version of the two-seat Meyers Manx 2.0, which is itself the all-electric successor to the original Meyers Manx that gave rise to the dune buggy craze of the 1960s. The Resorter is made for tooling around the neighborhood, if your neighborhood is Martha’s Vineyard, Lido Isle, or Del Boca Vista. Just don’t try to take it on the freeway.

The Meyers Manx Resorter is a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle. It falls in that class of vehicle designated by the DOT for vehicles that go no faster than 25 mph.

You may remember the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle; in the 1990s it was the way certain major auto manufacturers were going to circumvent (or meet) government standards for zero-emissions vehicles. Now it’s just a cute way to get around certain high-brow, low-speed neighborhoods where you’re not likely to get run over. Remember the GEM electric vehicles?

The Resorter NEV rides on an aluminum monocoque chassis powered by a twin-motor electric drivetrain and lithium ion batteries. The Meyers people claim the Resorter offers “class-leading torque, range, and acceleration” without saying what the torque, range, and acceleration are. But it should be fun, we hope.