I was on Sicily last week and saw quite some of those. Doesn't even stand out that much as people there seem to prefer very small cars (just look at a city like Modica on Streetview and you get why).
Looks a lot like the L EU vehicle class which is more than common in the EU. Go by various names: voiturette, mopoauto, quardicycle, same thing. Big, big issues and very dangerous for a variety of reasons, those being easier or harder to fix.
Firstly, we give them to 15 year olds (AM/121 license). This is an obvious safety issue but we also give them mopeds (AM/120), tractors (T/F/TM/Tкт/K/L & AM) and buggies (AM/121) whatever else. Ordinary driving licenses (B) in the EU are always 18 and up so this is our transitional mobility option. They're only meant to go 45 km/h but you know if you give someone a pimped up lawnmower with a plastic body they're going to do their everything to make that little engine work way harder than it should. You can, surprisingly, cram eight teenagers into one if you try – it has two seats. The age thing is relatively easy to fix.
Secondly, inherently unsafe design. These look more safe than mopeds. In terms of stability, they're stable upright and mopeds aren't so that's a big plus. Other than that, they're effectively the same vehicle when you get into a crash, that is, you practically become an 80 km/h pedestrian. They give off an illusion of safety though, making their (often young) user base very likely to find themselves in roadside posts due to the high centre of mass and low contact area making these things very likely to tip over in curve at any speed above like 35 km/h. Mopeds can actually often corner faster because they're designed to tip, but they're less likely to be driven with as much impunity due to the complete absence of the illusion of safety given by being inside a vehicle.
Thirdly, they are slow. At 45 km/h top speed they are pretty much only useful on local roads which limits where you can go to the exact same range as a bicycle. Being on an arterial for a long time is going to be a massive road safety risk simply because of everyone passing you and attempting to drive on a highway is in fact, entirely illegal. In everything, be it cargo capacity, seats, range or whatever they are equivalent to bicycles in everything but cost and lifetime emissions, especially if they're 2-stroke. Not only that but they don't benefit from the quicker and more free bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure which can cross however it wants and are confined to roads, leading to often much higher travel times despite twice the top and thrice the comfortable riding speed of a bicycle. In literally every way these are useless unless you live in a rural village an hour's walk away from the local town and are 15. Even then, a speed limited car would probably do better.
This insight into European driver's license and road safety politics brought to you by a Finnish man who wishes to see not only less SUVs but also less of these things on the roads because they are equally dangerous, although in different ways.
Yes, and for that they would be useful. However, in such an environment, it will be exceedingly rare for you to need one of these, as you would have to contend with city-level traffic and have to go at least 1.5 km away to even choose one instead of a bicycle. They have effectively the same safety and cargo capacity as a proper cargo bike, as they are super tiny. For families carrying children, bakfiets would fill the same role within that small radius. Therefore this is for intra-city, entirely urban trips, specifically going to places where there are no tram or metro stations within a few hundred metres or when a very small amount of too-heavy-to-carry cargo has to be moved more than 1.5 km, which as we all know, is a definite daily occurrence. Weather is one thing it protects you from, but from what I see on the daily, that's not a big enough issue to wage war against city traffic for for most people.
I don't find a good niche for these to succeed other than in very small towns with integrated suburbs but then again people would bike for bike trips and buy a car anyway because they want to get out of the small town at some point. It's a great idea but it either comes with most downsides of L-class vehicles or it loses its niche entirely.
I saw some of these in “hill towns” in Italy. You have a 4sq mile town with cobblestones, steep inclines, and narrow “roads”. Perfect.
Where I live it’s common for people for buy £4k electric cargo bikes to shuttle <10mi/day to shops and schools. I can see the appeal of one of these over such a bike especially when they were only £6k: more weatherproof, less likely to be stolen, arguably more versatile.
https://business.citroen.co.uk/ami