A
cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive
car manufactured mainly between 1910 and the late 1920s. Cyclecars were characterised by their use of basic materials and sometimes fragile engineering and were largely contrived to fill a gap in the market between the
motorcycle and the car. Their demise was largely the result of production economies in the manufacture of more substantial
economy cars such as the
Austin 7 and the consequent affordability of such vehicles. Vehicles with similar qualities produced after World WarII, are generally categorized as
microcars.