Liux bets on sustainable microcar to challenge Chinese rivals

Liux, a Spanish startup, is trying to carve out space in Europe’s crowded microcar market — increasingly dominated by low-cost Chinese EVs — with the Liux Big, a small electric car built around sustainability. The company has secured Europe-wide homologation for the model and expects to start selling it in the first half of next year.

“The idea of a European car does not exist,” Liux co-founder and CEO Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros told TechCrunch — a striking admission from the head of a company that opened Spain’s first new car plant in more than 30 years. Liux’s batteries are not made in Europe, but are designed to be easily replaceable, and the car’s fiber body uses a novel linen-based biocomposite meant to be extracted and recycled at the end of its life.

Monteros previously co-founded Auara, a Spanish B Corp selling bottled water, before teaming up with co-founder David Sancho, an engineer whose past work includes the Bóreas hybrid supercar unveiled at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2017. The pair’s first prototype, the Animal, was a fully electric five-seater unveiled in 2022, but they pivoted to a smaller car after concluding it would be easier to homologate.

Liux has since grown to 65 employees across three facilities in Spain, including a lean-management plant in Azuqueca de Henares, about a one-hour drive from Madrid, that performs only the final assembly steps. The company says its production capacity could reach 20,000 cars a year by 2030. More than 7,500 people have joined its waiting list, with the most common profile a 55- to 60-year-old city dweller.

Liux hasn’t confirmed a final price but said the Liux Big will cost below €18,000 (about $21,000) before EV subsidies — despite its ultralight L7e homologation category, the startup managed to fit a 240-liter trunk. The car will launch in 15 kWh and 20 kWh versions, with a cargo variant planned. Liux will use the €16 million (about $18.5 million, including European funding) it has raised so far to bring the urban version to market through European dealership partnerships.

Why it matters

Liux’s bet that recyclability and easy maintenance can offset China’s cost advantage in microcars tests whether sustainability, rather than price, can carve out a niche in Europe’s shrinking-car market.