Smart Forease Concept - looks like a Dodgem Car for Noddy

Smart Forease Concept – another ‘individual’ concept from Smart

The Smart Forease Concept is heading to the Paris Show as a roofless electric Smart Concept, based on the EQ ForTwo Cabriolet and celebrating 20 years of Smart.

For 20 years Mercedes has been trying to make Smart a success but, just like Maybach as a standalone brand, it’s never really worked.

But that hasn’t stopped Mercedes delivering plenty of concepts over the years to show the ‘future’ of Smart, although we do wonder if Mercedes is familiar with the (often attributed to Einstein) aphorism “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result“?

Clearly not, as we get yet another Smart Concept for the Paris Motor Show with a predictably daft Smart name – The Smart ForEase – which looks like a re-hash of the Smart Forspeed Concept from 2011. Think a Dodgem for Noddy and you won’t be far off.

Based on the Smart EQ ForTwo Cabriolet, the ForEase does without a roof altogether, gets a chopped windscreen, a ducktail spoiler at the back, a silver and white paint job with luminous green highlights and odd looking wheels. It also gets a soppy ‘face’ thanks to a pair of square running lights on the grille.

Inside its more of the same Smart ‘style’ with luminous green bits and a steering wheel missing a big chunk at the top.

What is realistic is the electric powertrain under the skin, nicked from the EQ ForTwo and offering an 80bhp electric motor powered by a 17.6kWWh lithium ion battery. Enough for pottering around town.

You’ll be able to see the Smart ForEase Concept if you’re off to the Paris Motor Show in the next few days.