Posts Tagged "smart"

As promised, I’ve discovered another couple of bikes on show this morning. These two sibling bikes come from Smart and Brabus and are packing a little extra punch in the form of a plug-in electric motor.

The Smart version is a polished-looking city bike with the battery pack neatly integrated into the frame, while Brabus have done their usual tricks turning the same basic bike into a “city racer”, complete with slick tires, no mudguards, a flat black and eye-searing green paintjob, and the resulting decreased usefulness.

The appearance of these bikes in prominent locations is a sure indicator that the young urban buyer is keenly eyeing alternative transport with style that the automakers are keen to cash in on, much like the mountain bike craze of a few years ago.

I’m a big fan of seeing more of these stylish bikes as part of generalized urban mobility “solution”, and hope we’ll see more at shows to come. I hear there’s one more at Opel, but if I’ve missed one tucked away in a corner of the Palexpo, be sure to tell us in the comments.

By Drew Meehan

A city car with brown saddle leather butting up to metal detailing; circular dial pods; my-first-racer seat harnesses. ‘Mini’ would be the obvious brand association with these elements but in fact they belong to Smart’s Forspeed concept, which marks a shift in the brand’s positioning.

It seems Mercedes’ smallest brand – after years of almost unforgivable neglect – has decided Mini’s ‘premium’ approach to flogging teeny cars can work for it too.

Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with the interior of the Forspeed – it’s beautifully detailed, feels high-end and is full of character. It just feels a little incongruous with Smart’s core message. Let’s not forget that the neat and deeply engaging brief for the original was to “transport two students and a crate of beer to a party across town”.

Owen Ready