People keep calling these vehicles "microcars" - but they are actually freedom devices.

Every time I hear that expression, I think we start the discussion from the wrong place.

A microcar sounds like a small version of a normal car. Something compromised. Something that did not quite make it. But that is not what I saw when I took this picture.

I saw two young women climbing into a vehicle that gave them something previous generations associated with their very first car: independence. The ability to decide where to go without asking somebody else for a lift, without waiting for a bus and without owning something much larger and more expensive than they actually needed.

Perhaps we have become too attached to the idea that freedom has to come in the shape of a conventional passenger car.

For somebody living in a city, for a student, for an elderly person or simply for somebody looking for an affordable second vehicle, the question is often much simpler. How do I get from A to B safely, affordably and whenever I choose?

That changes the discussion completely.

Maybe we should stop asking whether these vehicles are "real cars".

Maybe we should ask whether they solve a very real human problem.

To me, that makes them much more interesting than the name "microcar" ever could.