However, the Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar is not some up-and-coming sector savior ready to take city centers by storm — in fact, it looks dire even in comparison to the worst EVs offered for sale today. Instead, it launched in the 1970s as a real-world alternative to gas-guzzling domestics, arriving right in the thick of the EV's crap era. Saying the CitiCar "failed to revolutionize city driving" makes it sound like a complete failure, but it really wasn't, as we'll explain in this article. However, despite the excellence of the idea and intent behind the CitiCar, pricing structures, market conditions, and battery technology did ultimately stop it from becoming the new face of city driving. In total, roughly 6,500 were made, counting both CitiCar and Commuta-Car units, and it notably became the best-selling American EV since the end of World War II, right up until Tesla launched its Model S.