Why Fiat's Tiny New Car Has No Rules in America

The US has no federal rule book for tiny, slow vehicles that are everywhere in Europe and Japan. Fiat's new Topolino—an electric box that goes 19 mph and costs under $15,000—falls through the cracks. Each state makes its own rules instead. Federal regulators built their framework decades ago for regular cars and motorcycles, with nothing in between. Nobody lobbies to fix it: it's too slow for highways, too car-like for bike shops, too obscure to matter.