There’s not exactly a booming market for beach buggies these days, but that hasn’t stopped a team of former Apple, Audi and Cowboy e-bike alumni from penning what looks to be one of the coolest concepts of the summer: meet the Amble One.
The Portuguese start-up’s first vehicle is what happens when someone decides a golf cart simply isn’t cool enough anymore. The result is a road-legal electric beach buggy that looks like it has escaped from a hideously expensive Maldives surf resort, yet packs enough clever engineering to make even hardened car nerds take note.
The company started from a viewpoint that many journeys simply don’t require a conventional car at all.
“We believe cars are engineered for speed, distance and efficiency,” says co-founder and CEO Adrien Roose. “Yet many journeys are short, and for those journeys the car is often too big, too complex and too expensive.”
That philosophy is reflected in the One’s delightfully minimalist design. It weighs less than 450kg, keeping it within Europe’s L7e quadricycle regulations, offers a claimed range of more than 60 miles (100km), reaches a top speed of 40mph (65km/h) and can recharge from a regular household socket in around five hours. Prices start from €20,000 (around £17,300/$25,000) before local taxes.
However, the names behind it are arguably just as interesting as the vehicle itself.
Lead designer Julian Hoenig previously worked at Audi on projects including the R8, A4 and Q3 before joining Apple, where he contributed to everything from the Apple Watch and Vision Pro to the now-cancelled Project Titan car programme. CEO Adrien Roose co-founded premium e-bike brand Cowboy, while Michael Tropper founded the renowned design consultancy Forpeople and chairman José António Uva transformed São Lourenço do Barrocal into one of Portugal’s best-known luxury retreats.
“Many journeys are short, and for those journeys the car is often too big, too complex and too expensive.”
Hoenig says the inspiration actually came from NASA’s Lunar Rover, with the exposed electric “skateboard” platform deliberately left on show rather than hidden beneath bulky bodywork.
The cabin mixes aluminium, leather, cork and canvas instead of acres of glossy piano-black plastic, while bright orange fasteners deliberately highlight removable components. Even the dashboard tube has been designed to the same diameter as motorcycle handlebars, allowing owners to bolt on standard bicycle and motorcycle accessories such as phone mounts or storage bags.
Amble isn’t initially targeting traditional car buyers either.
Its first customers will largely be luxury hotels, private estates and high-end resorts, with brands including Six Senses and Amangiri already placing orders ahead of hospitality deliveries beginning in 2027. Consumer deliveries in Europe and the US are expected to follow during 2028.
Of course, plenty of manufacturers have attempted to reinvent the humble beach buggy over the years, from the electric Moke to the Citroën Ami Buggy. But few have arrived with this sort of mixed bag of engineers and product designers.
There’s also been a significant shift in consumers looking for cheaper, smaller and simpler urban transport, of which few look quite as cool as this.
