The idea was to offer the convenience of a scooter or motorbike but without many of the associated dangers or hassles. The C1's most innovative design feature was its emphasis on safety. However, being secured by a seat belt could make slow speed handling and manoeuvring rather tricky until experience is acquired. BMW added passive safety and car-like crash testing to the scooter. It claimed that in a head-on collision, the C1 offered a standard of accident protection comparable to a European compact car. That was the prime marketing strategy to convert car buyers; the C1 was claimed to be so safe that the rider did not need to wear a helmet to ride it. This was achieved by using two shoulder-height roll bars, a crumple zone around the front wheel and an aluminium roll cage creating a car-like safety cell. It also had twin seatbelts reminiscent of an aviation style four-point harness to keep the rider in place. Many countries deemed the use of seatbelts in conjunction with wearing a helmet to be unsafe. The added strain on the riders neck from the added weight of the helmet could cause significant injury to the restrained rider even in a low speed head-on collision. Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Israel and Spain authorities were quick to allow an exception to the helmet law for the C1. However, poor C1 sales in the United Kingdom may in part be attributable to the British government's refusal of BMW's request to change helmet regulations for C1 riders. Another country that requires C1 riders to wear a helmet is Sweden, although wearing the seat-belts is voluntary. However both seat belts must be secured for the vehicle to move. After selling 10,614 units in 2001, BMW only sold 2,000 units in 2002, and ceased production of the C1 in October 2002. It was never made available in the United States. BMW-supplied accessory options included:  In 2009 BMW used the same layout for the C1-E, an electric scooter concept vehicle that it developed as part of the European safety project eSUM ("European Safer Urban Motorcycling"). The C1-E uses components supplied by electric scooter manufacturer Vectrix and is powered by a lithium-ion battery.