Sinclair C5 the event they did not, the project could not continue, due to thermal problems. Neither the C10 nor the C15 ever left the drawing board. Although Sinclair went on to produce more (but much smaller) electric vehicles, the C5 debacle did lasting damage to the reputation of subsequent EVs in the UK, which the media routinely compared to the C5. It was not until a highly regarded manufacturer, Toyota, launched a serious and well-received vehicle in the 1990s, the Prius, that the C5 "jinx" was finally laid to rest. In 2017 Sir Clive's nephew Grant Sinclair presented what he called
Sinclair C5 expensively) on the aerodynamics rather than the cycle technology around which the C1 was based. The weight of the vehicle increased to over , far more than Sinclair's desired specification. By March 1983, Sinclair and Wood Rogers had decided to stop the C1 programme. Wood Rogers comments that Ogle were convinced that the C1 would be a flop, telling Sinclair that it would not be fast enough, that its drivers would get wet when it rained and that the battery was not good enough. To meet the steadily escalating development costs of the vehicle, Sinclair decided to raise capital by