0ne of the premières mondiales of this year’s Paris Motor Show is today’s unveiling of the Smart Forease all-electric concept car. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Smart brand, this concept is intended to convey a more fun and whimsical design for electric urban mobility, but I find it comes across as cutesy rather than cute.
Before arriving at the Forease, I checked out Smart’s existing EQ Fortwo coupe, which has that characteristically boxy Smart car shape, a basic interior, and a price that dips as low as $15,000 in places like California where electric vehicle subsidies incentivize its purchase. The Fortwo is, in a lot of ways, the most likely future of electric mobility that the majority of us will experience. It’s utilitarian, but it has a sportier convertible option too. The Forease, on the other hand, comes without a roof. No roof at all.