The original is now a collector's item worth thousands. If Honda sells the Motocompacto it'll be mostly to Honda enthusiasts looking for a neat trunk item.
A motocompo came up for sale locally a couple of months ago for only a couple of 1000, shame I missed it. Classic design.
At 40lbs this thing is only half the weight of the full gas-powered 'compo, way too heavy for a modern take -it's basically an e-scooter with cosmetic panels.
I've been daydreaming of stacking a 5 pack of em in the boot for family use exploring places during weekends away. Kids would have an absolute ball ripping around on one of those.
Hoverboards or electric unicycles might fit the bill, depending on how well your kids can balance. I have a $300 folding scooter that fits in my Honda's trunk and has more capability than the Motocompacto- the value proposition of a slightly smaller package is not amazing.
For completeness, you can buy suitcase scooters with actual luggage space right now[1].
I actually saw a child riding one (not this model, but similar) at the airport on a recent trip. I'm sure they were having fun but I doubt it's useful enough to warrant the cost and weight penalty over a regular carry-on bag for most adults. Any adult incapable of walking through an airport likely doesn't have the flexibility and balance required to ride this safely.
The Segway scooters are a better comparison, those can go 25-45km on a charge. There are other models that can do 100km+, it’s a quite dramatic gap to what Honda is offering.
The only use case I could see for myself using one would be to get from the station to the office, but e-scooters are banned on trains in the UK. Otherwise it (or similar) is something I might have considered.
Aside from some pilot programs, I think e-scooters are still technically banned in every public space in UK, as they are considered motor vehicles and are not (yet) insurable.
I'm sure if they were properly regulated and people weren't importing iffy ones from wish.com that don't meet safety standards, this wouldn't have been such a problem.
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The original is now a collector's item worth thousands. If Honda sells the Motocompacto it'll be mostly to Honda enthusiasts looking for a neat trunk item.
At 40lbs this thing is only half the weight of the full gas-powered 'compo, way too heavy for a modern take -it's basically an e-scooter with cosmetic panels.
My first thought was salarymen going from train to home or office, not for home to office directly as some other solutions would be better at.
https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/01-Honda-M...
It's like a mouse riding a credit card. It feels... human. I would like the world to have more cute nerdy fun like this in it.
Old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZB_rGFyeU
It did give a friend groin strain when he tried to get on it once, so that's an anti theft measure I suppose.
I actually saw a child riding one (not this model, but similar) at the airport on a recent trip. I'm sure they were having fun but I doubt it's useful enough to warrant the cost and weight penalty over a regular carry-on bag for most adults. Any adult incapable of walking through an airport likely doesn't have the flexibility and balance required to ride this safely.
[1] https://www.airwheel.net
The Segway scooters are a better comparison, those can go 25-45km on a charge. There are other models that can do 100km+, it’s a quite dramatic gap to what Honda is offering.
Not that that seems to stop anybody.
I'm sure if they were properly regulated and people weren't importing iffy ones from wish.com that don't meet safety standards, this wouldn't have been such a problem.