Vandalized Toyotas stall car-sharing program in France

TOYOTA

PARIS (Bloomberg) -- When the Socialists lost a French mayor's office to the Greens last March, the ripple effect spread as far as the Tokyo offices of the world's biggest carmaker, Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota was preparing to start its first electric car-sharing experiment outside Japan in Grenoble, a 160,000-person city at the foot of the French Alps. The incumbent had promised to install security cameras at all 27 planned charging stations for Toyota's i-Road, a quirky three-wheeled electric scooter that the company says can slalom through curves like one of Grenoble's skiers.

New Mayor Eric Piolle, who had run on an anti-surveillance platform, refused to fulfill the previous administration's promises. After several instances of vandalism in the program's first three months slowed its introduction, there is now hardly a sign of the vehicles in the city center.

The difficult start in Grenoble illustrates some of the challenges global automakers face as they enter the electric-car market, where local support for infrastructure is key.

"When young people go out clubbing and get drunk, they can get rough," said Valentin Masso, a 25-year-old cook who moved to the city a few months ago. "These cars arouse their interest, and they want to play with them."

Several i-Roads have been vandalized since their September debut, leading Toyota to install alarms.

Police in Grenoble declined to comment.

The i-Road is Toyota's effort to pioneer a new model for electric vehicles. With few places to recharge and limited driving ranges, the traditional auto-industry approach of making cars and letting customers sort out how to use them hasn't worked well for battery-powered models. Toyota instead is asking customers to pay to use its scooters, with the system designed to mesh with public transport.

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