As European cities double down on low-emission mobility and urban space becomes an ever-scarcer commodity, the way people move through cities is changing. Against this backdrop, quadricycles are emerging as a compelling alternative to the traditional city car as they’re compact, efficient, and purpose-built for short-distance urban travel.
Combining the stability and protection of four wheels with the affordability and simplicity of lightweight vehicles, quadricycles are particularly well suited to the demands of dense urban environments. What is perhaps most distinctive about this segment, however, is the clarity of the regulatory framework underpinning it.
What is a quadricycle? It is a compact sized four wheels vehicle with limitations in mass, top speed and maximum power.
These streamlined rules have made quadricycles accessible to a broad range of users including young drivers, city commuters, and those seeking affordable day-to-day mobility. With low operating costs and a rapidly growing shift towards electrification, the segment has moved well beyond niche status to become a credible pillar of the urban transport ecosystem. That said, quadricycles occupy a distinctive, and at times challenging, position between two-wheelers and small city cars in terms of accessibility, cost, and everyday usability.
This article examines the Italian and French markets, exploring the key trends that have shaped the past two years and the principal players driving the sector forward.
Registrations fall across France and Italy
The French quadricycle market is approximately 50% larger than its Italian counterpart. Between 2024 and 2025, both markets experienced a contraction in registrations, declining by 17.9% in France and 16.5% in Italy. However, the downturn has been far from uniform, with significant disparities emerging across manufacturers and powertrain technologies.
ICE sales decline while electric reaches around 75% of the market
The most interesting trend between 2024 and 2025 is the sharp retreat of internal combustion engine (ICE) quadricycle registrations which are down 57% in France and 46% in Italy. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) quadricycles, by contrast, followed an entirely different trajectory, accelerating strongly in France (+19%) whilst remaining broadly stable in Italy (−1%).
France’s BEV momentum is particularly noteworthy. It was achieved despite quadricycles being excluded from government BEV incentive schemes in 2025, signalling that demand is increasingly driven by the segment’s intrinsic appeal rather than policy support.
A pivotal regulatory development underpins this shift. The Euro 5+ standard, which came into force on 1 January 2024, marked a significant turning point for ICE quadricycles. The new framework imposed substantially stricter requirements, including mandatory OBD II systems, real-world emissions testing, and enhanced durability standards for anti-pollution systems. From that date, new vehicles could no longer be homologated unless fully compliant with Euro 5+, whilst Euro 5-only models had been temporarily tolerated throughout 2024.
As a direct consequence of the Euro 5+ implementation, both France and Italy recorded a significant increase in ICE registrations in Q4 2024 compared to Q3 2024 (+90% and +76%, respectively), followed by a sharp decline in Q1 2025 (−77% and −84% VS Q4 2024), reflecting a clear pull‑forward effect ahead of regulatory enforcement.
Late 2024 tactical pre-registration could explain both the visible abrupt decline of ICE volumes mechanically mirrored by rapid BEV expansion in powertrain mix (+23pp for France and +12pp for Italy in 2025). The quadricycle market in both countries is now overwhelmingly dominated by BEV powertrains, which accounted for roughly three in every four units sold in 2025.
This stands in sharp contrast to the broader passenger car market, where BEVs represented approximately 20% of registrations in France and just 6.2% in Italy during the same period, highlighting how quadricycles have become one of the most advanced segments in the electrification transition.
A handful of brands still control more than 90% of all sales
The quadricycle market reflects its origins as a niche segment built by a small group of pioneering manufacturers. Ligier (founded 1970), Microcar (1982), Aixam (1983), and Chatenet (1984) laid the industrial, distribution, and brand foundations of the market over several decades. This long-standing dominance has created significant barriers to entry, making it difficult for new players to scale without substantial financial and industrial backing. Stellantis has demonstrated this through the successful entry of Citroën and FIAT.
Today, fewer than a handful of manufacturers account for more than 90% of total quadricycle sales, reflecting both the maturity of the segment and the advantages enjoyed by established players.
Stellantis grows share in a shrinking market driven by Topolino volumes
In France, Stellantis leads the quadricycle market by a considerable margin over its nearest competitor, Aixam. Remarkably, the group achieved growth of 6.1% in an overall declining market, translating into a gain of 12 percentage points in market share. This performance was primarily driven by the FIAT Topolino, whose rapid ramp-up in registrations positioned it as a key growth engine for the segment.
Microcar, a Ligier subsidiary since 2008, saw its sales collapse by 84% following the brand’s discontinuation in 2025. Renault Group, through its Mobilize brand, made a notable, if short-lived, entry into the market, capturing close to 6% market share within a single year. Despite encouraging early results, the group chose to cease commercialisation of the DUO at the end of 2025.
Legacy brands lose ground as ICE declines faster than their electric growth
Manufacturers offering both ICE and BEV powertrains were most exposed to the sharp decline in ICE demand. Aixam and Ligier were particularly impacted, recording sales contractions of 43% and 49% respectively between 2024 and 2025.
For Aixam, this shift produced a significant change in powertrain mix. The share of BEVs increased by 22 percentage points, driven both by the collapse of ICE volumes and a strong rebound in BEV sales, which surged by 47.3%. For Ligier, BEV mix expansion was driven almost entirely by ICE erosion, with limited underlying growth in electric volumes mix.
Italy follows the same pattern with Stellantis taking over and electric rising fast
The Italian quadricycle market mirrors France in its high degree of concentration, with five players accounting for nearly 90% of total sales. The competitive landscape is closely aligned, with the same top three manufacturers leading the segment. Stellantis dominates with a 43% market share, followed by Aixam at 21.9% and Ligier at 10.6%.
XEV, the newer entrant in the top five, founded in Turin in 2017, holds fourth place and continued to close the gap with Ligier through 2025.
As in France, FIAT’s strong performance has been instrumental in reinforcing Stellantis’ market leadership in Italy. In an overall declining market, FIAT stands out as the only top-five brand to have broadly maintained its sales volumes between 2024 and 2025. Against a backdrop of a 16.5% market contraction, limiting its own decline to just −1.6%, represents a notable outperformance, reflecting the brand’s growing resonance within the segment.
Focusing on the two top-five players offering ICE variants, Italy shows a pattern closely aligned with France. Both Ligier and Aixam recorded significant sales declines — 33.7% and 21.9% respectively — compared to 2024, highlighting the phase-out of ICE powertrains. It is worth noting that these figures are amplified by the strong end-of-year effect in 2024, when tactical registrations ahead of Euro 5+ implementation inflated volumes.
Whilst their BEV portfolios have gained traction with market penetration increasing by 28% for Ligier and 77% for Aixam, this growth has not been sufficient to fully offset the decline in ICE volumes. BEVs now account for nearly one in two vehicles sold by Aixam, signalling a decisive shift towards electrification.
Electric quadricycles are cheaper than petrol and that is changing buying behaviour
Beyond regulatory drivers, pricing dynamics are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the market. In the quadricycle segment, BEVs are on average positioned at a significantly lower price point than comparable ICE models, a reversal of the pattern seen in mainstream passenger cars, which is strengthening their value proposition and accelerating adoption.
This price differential is largely a function of the volume effect of Stellantis’ offerings, which substantially lower the average retail price across the BEV segment. In France, the FIAT Topolino and Citroën Ami together accounted for 74% of total BEV quadricycle sales in 2025 (down from 83% in 2024); in Italy, they represented 56.3% of volumes (versus 70.5% in 2024). BEV models from historical manufacturers such as Aixam and Ligier captured a more modest share of 12.5% in France (up from 11.3%) and 15% in Italy (up from 8.8%).
With average retail prices barely exceeding the €10,000 threshold, Stellantis’ offerings play a pivotal role in enhancing the affordability of BEV quadricycles, and in narrowing, or even reversing, the traditional price gap versus ICE models.
BEV models from Aixam and Ligier, by contrast, are positioned at nearly twice the price level, highlighting a clear split between high-volume, entry-level players and more premium-oriented historical manufacturers.
For Aixam and Ligier, however, the price differential between their own ICE and BEV ranges remains relatively modest. In 2025, the gap in France stood at €2,138 for Aixam and €2,265 for Ligier; in Italy it narrowed further to €1,471 and just €340 respectively. This pricing proximity significantly lowers the barrier to electrification, making the transition from ICE to BEV within the same brand both accessible and intuitive. The purchase decision is therefore shaped by expected usage patterns and customer preferences rather than upfront cost.
Beyond the initial purchase price, total cost of ownership becomes a decisive differentiator. Lower maintenance requirements and reduced running costs associated with BEVs further strengthen their value proposition, and help to explain the sustained shift towards electric powertrains that is reshaping this market.
Regulation and pricing are pushing quadricycles out of niche and into everyday use
The quadricycle market stands at a genuine turning point. What was once a niche segment defined by a handful of pioneering manufacturers has evolved into one of the most electrified corners of the automotive landscape, outpacing the broader passenger car market by a considerable margin.
The regulatory step-change brought about by Euro 5+ has accelerated the shift away from ICE powertrains, whilst Stellantis’ aggressive volume strategy is reshaping both the competitive hierarchy and the affordability of BEV mobility.
For the historical players, the path forward lies in leveraging their brand equity and distribution depth to grow electric volumes, rather than relying on ICE erosion to shift the mix. With urban mobility pressures showing no sign of easing and city-level restrictions on combustion vehicles continuing to tighten, quadricycles are well positioned to move from the margins of the mobility conversation to its centre, offering an accessible, low-emission answer to the challenge of getting around in the modern city.
Looking ahead to 2026 and 2027, however, the next phase of growth will be shaped by a number of critical questions.
Will BEV dominance continue to strengthen, supported by pricing dynamics driven by high volume players such as Stellantis?
Can Stellantis sustain its entry level BEV strategy over the long term, or is it riding a wave of short term momentum?
Will quadricycles expand beyond their current niche to become a credible substitute for A segment city cars, as options in that category continue to disappear?
And as affordability becomes a defining factor, will Chinese OEMs enter the quadricycle space in France and Italy, following their broader expansion into the European BEV market?
About this report
This report was produced by JATO Advisory, a specialist team of consultants and analysts. Built on decades of automotive intelligence, JATO Advisory delivers bespoke research, strategic intelligence, and tailored solutions that equip global automotive businesses with the insights to make more informed, confident decisions.