| The modern luxury mobility scooter is a far cry from | | | | Taiwan by Heartway Medical Products Limited. |
| the mobility scooter of the past. Up until recently | | | | Heartway have been manufacturer mobility aids since |
| mobility scooters were low powered, badly engineered | | | | 1995 and have led the way in raising standards and |
| machines that looked as if they had been designed for | | | | expectations in the mobility market. |
| people who had given up on any idea of style or | | | | Heartway are not the only company raising the bar in |
| elegance. Fortunately that has now changed, and a | | | | the luxury mobility scooter market. Based in Israel |
| new breed of mobility scooter has arrived. | | | | Afikim Electric Vehicles have produced a top end |
| The luxury mobility scooter is defined by three main | | | | scooter to rival those built by Heartway: the Breeze. |
| attributes: design quality; build quality; and ride quality. | | | | Distributed in the UK as the TGA Breeze the Breeze |
| Design quality is demonstrated in two ways: | | | | is available as either a three or four wheel scooter. |
| aesthetically and ergonomically, and there is no better | | | | Aesthetically the Breeze is a very different looking |
| example of design quality than the scooters of | | | | product to the Royale and the Vita, with flowing |
| imported into the UK by NHC and marketed under the | | | | organic lines and a solid appearance. |
| Freerider brand. The top of the range Freerider | | | | The Breeze is one of the most popular luxury |
| scooter, the Royale, is one of the finest mobility | | | | scooters in the UK and has developed a loyal |
| scooters on the market today. Available in both three | | | | consumer base due to it's excellent build quality |
| and four wheel models the Royale is a beautiful looking | | | | (backed by a three year warranty in most cases) and |
| full sized scooter. | | | | go any where capabilities. It is unsurprising that the |
| The Royale's design borrows heavily from the modern | | | | Breeze is an accomplished off roader when you |
| motor scooter, such as those produced by the Italian | | | | consider it is from the same manufacturer as the |
| firm Piaggio, and features an elegant chevron motif | | | | legendary TGA Supersport. |
| that is repeated through out the fairing and lighting units. | | | | Luxury is not entirely limited to the heavy duty end of |
| The design of the Royale is more than just about | | | | the mobility scooter market. The standard of folding |
| aesthetics though, with ergonomics clearly being at the | | | | scooters has been raised by Electric Mobility's Liteway |
| fore front of the designers minds. The ride position on | | | | range. The top of the range Liteway 8 scooters |
| the Royale can be configured for maximum comfort, | | | | features an aluminum chassis and light weight alloy |
| with a captain's seat that shifts fore and aft, and a fully | | | | wheels with pneumatic tires allowing Electric Mobility to |
| adjustable tilting tiller. | | | | produce a fully collapsible, full featured eight mile an |
| The Royale features one of the highest specification | | | | hour scooter with a heaviest piece of only 18kg or 41 |
| control panels seen on a mobility scooter with an LCD | | | | pounds. |
| display that showing speed, battery life, mode and time. | | | | While not every one wants or needs the features of |
| A scooter that can rival the Freerider Royale is the | | | | these top of the range scooters, the mere fact of their |
| TGA Vita. New to the market in 2009 the TGA Vita is | | | | development is a good thing for all mobility scooter |
| already creating a buzz amongst consumers and | | | | consumers. The introduction of innovation in the design |
| commentators. There are many similarities between | | | | of mobility scooters, and the raising of standards in |
| the Freerider Royale and the TGA Vita (both in design | | | | both build quality and ride quality will certainly trickle |
| and build quality), but these are easily explained: they | | | | down to mid and low priced scooters giving more and |
| are made by the same company. | | | | better mobility to all. |
| Both the Vita and the Royale are manufactured in | | | | |