Having built the Smart Fortwo and the Smart Forfour the small car maker ran out of nameplates pretty quickly but with their concept cars they’ve always adopted a different naming strategy. This latest concept machine, the Smart Fourjoy follows on from the Forstars and ForUs concepts which were shown in 2012.
You’ve probably noticed that this is an extreme Smart car which does away with doors, windows and a roof. Smart say that “the Fourjoy dispenses with unnecessary ballast” but we think that there’s every need for windows and doors especially when there’s no major performance gains to be taken from their removal. Smart are trying to grab attention with this creation rather than develop the latest line of intelligent city cars but the concept does come with an electric motor, which drives the rear wheels and develops 74bhp, and they’ve designed the car to be chargeable in an hour.
This may be a small car but Smart hasn’t skimped on safety as the firm’s tridion safety cell has been used. As there are no doors or windows, the cabin’s open to the elements and to unwanted visitors so it’s pretty sparse. Rather than providing the integrated infotainment system found in other Smart cars, Smart has included a smartphone docking port.
Smart has said a lot of things about this new concept, not much of which makes sense, for example “Transparent petroleum-coloured moulded parts emphasise the upbeat character of the study.” They add that “The function and colour are reminiscent of 1990s tennis caps” which might well be true but we’re not sure what Tennis has to do with Smart’s new concept. Maybe visitors to the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show will have more luck understanding the point of this machine when it gets its public debut later this month.
via EUROCARBLOG
