Although I joked about this car on an earlier post I agree there may be (probably is) a US market for very basic transportation along these lines.
What would be wrong with allowing cars like this to be sold as long as they are restricted to local roads where the speed limit is 45 mph or less?
Disabled people are often seen on the local roads in my city with those little battery powered wheelchairs which are much lower powered and infinitely more dangerous than a vehicle like this.
I see the problem as being opposition from the government, which is always reluctant to allow any departure from conventional thinking on personal transportation, and the politically powerful, established car dealer networks which would go ballistic on a $2,500 dollar vehicle taking sales from $20k to $50k machines.
A vehicle like this could be sold through Walmart, Best Buy, and other non-conventional outlets which would hold down the overhead and mark ups.
But my favorite little car is still the old 1950's ISETTA, which were sold here and seen on local roads back when gasoline cost less than $.30 (that's right - 30 cents) a gallon!!!
Here is what the ISETTA looks like:
