A Brief History
TH!NK began its life in the mid 1990s, developed by a Norwegian company named PIVCO (for Personal Independent Vehicle Company). PIVCO's third-generation vehicle, launched in 1995, was named CityBee in Europe and Citi in USA. In 1995-96, 120 CityBees/Citi's were built, with over a third shipped to California to participate the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station car program. The CityBee also won the Scandinavian Electric Car rally in 1995.
In 1998 a fourth-generation vehicle, designed with Lotus Engineering, got a new name, and the TH!NK city was launched at the Electric Vehicle Symposium in Brussels.
In 1999 Ford bought PIVCO, which was renamed Think Nordic AS. Over the next two years, 1,005 vehicles were produced, making it one of the world’s largest fleets of electric vehicles, sold in 14 countries in Europe and the United States. In the U.S., the vehicles were leased, and there was a waiting list.
In 2004, Ford discontinued leasing TH!NK vehicles and sold the technology to a European investor, and this March the current owners -- headed by Jan-Olaf Willums, former head of Volvo Petroleum and director of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development – purchased the company.
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