Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Smart shows us its wild side with an energetic Forease+ concept

Ronan Glon
By
1 of 15
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Smart Forease+
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Does the Smart brand have a future? Unconfirmed reports claim it will be axed in the coming years, but the firm boldly argued it’s alive and well by displaying a fun, energetic concept named Forease+ during the 2019 Geneva Auto Show. It’s a glimpse into what the future holds for Smart’s catalog of diminutive city cars, according to the firm.

Recommended Videos

Those following the Smart brand will immediately recognize the name. The Forease+ is a follow-up to the Forease concept introduced during the 2018 Paris Auto Show. Not a lot has changed since. While the original Forease made its debut as a convertible with no roof, the Forease+ receives a piece of orange fabric that protects the occupants from the elements when they’re zigzagging across a city. Orange accents on both ends of the concept and on the wheels contribute a touch of color when the roof is off.

Related

The Forease+ is visibly based on the current, third-generation Fortwo that’s sold exclusively as an electric car in the United States. Most of the interior comes straight from the assembly line, including the touchscreen on the center console and the digital instrument cluster, but Smart cut out the top part of the steering wheel and replaced the central air vents with round screens. It also added leather upholstery to create a more upscale atmosphere.

1 of 6
Smart Forease Plus
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends
Smart Forease Plus
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends
Smart Forease Plus
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends
Smart Forease Plus
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends
Smart Forease Plus
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends
Smart Forease Plus
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends

While the concept’s body shows Smart’s wild side, everything under the sheet metal comes from the brand’s parts bin. It’s powered by an electric drivetrain made up of a 17.6-kWh lithium-ion battery pack and a compact electric motor that zaps the rear wheels with 80 horsepower and 118 pound-feet of torque. Range checks in at 58 miles; that’s not much, not when Hyundai offers an electric Kona with up to 258 miles of range, but the Fortwo is a city car at heart, not a long-distance cruiser.

Smart hasn’t indicated what the future holds for the Forease+ concept. If you’re thinking it looks too far-fetched to reach production, keep in mind the brand has surprised us with even more offbeat models in the past. In 2002, it released a limited-edition variant of the original Fortwo named Crossblade that had no doors and no windshield. That doesn’t guarantee it will pull a similar trick in 2019, but we wouldn’t rule it out entirely.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon
Contributor
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Audi ActiveSphere concept is part luxury sedan, part pickup truck
Audi ActiveSphere concept car in a mountainous setting with a bike on the rear rack.

Audi unveiled the fourth and final member of its Sphere-branded series of concept cars, and the design study is unlike anything we've seen before. Called ActiveSphere, it's an electric luxury sedan with a generous amount of ground clearance that can turn into a pickup truck.

Created at the Audi Design Studio in Malibu, California, the ActiveSphere stretches approximately 196 inches long, 81 inches wide, and 63 inches tall, figures that make it about as long as the current-generation A6, 7 inches wider, and 6 inches taller. It wears a rounded exterior design characterized by thin headlights, a transparent piece of trim where you'd expect to find a grille, and a fastback-like silhouette.

Read more
Ram EV concept previews truck brand’s electric future
The Ram 1500 Revolution BEV concept was designed around an electric powertrain.

Electric pickup trucks are a hot trend in the auto industry, and Ram is late to the game. So the truck brand of massive automaker Stellantis needed to work hard to stand out.
Unveiled at CES 2023, the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV concept shows what Ram has in mind for its first production electric truck, which is scheduled to arrive in 2024. This concept version combines some features we’ve already seen on other electric trucks with a few clever new ideas. So while it may be revolutionary for the Ram brand, which is new to EVs, it’s more evolutionary when compared to other electric pickups.

Unmistakably electric
The Ram 1500 Revolution has the bulky appearance of a traditional truck, but with proportions that clearly mark it as an EV. With no need to accommodate an engine, the hood is much shorter. This allowed designers to make the cabin four inches longer than today’s internal-combustion Ram 1500 without shortening the bed, Ram claims. The grille is also smaller, although Ram compensated for this with a giant light-up logo and headlights with the same “tuning fork” elements as its current gasoline and diesel truck grilles.
The roofline is a bit lower and sleeker, which probably helps with aerodynamics, but like a traditional truck, the Revolution rolls on massive wheels and tires. The 35-inch tires are wrapped around 24-inch wheels with smooth covers and light-up elements. The charge port, meanwhile, is located in the driver’s side front fender. It makes a noise when the truck has started charging and blinks to show that charging is ongoing.
Like rival truck makers, Ram incorporated a frunk where the engine would normally be, plus the RamBox storage bins from its current trucks. Nearly every opening, including the tailgate, frunk, and charge port, is also power-operated.
Underpinning all of this power-operated convenience is the STLA Frame dedicated EV platform, one of four such platforms Stellantis plans to use for future EVs across its many brands, such as Chrysler and Jeep.

Read more
We drove Mercedes’ hand-built EQXX concept, and it’s unlike any other EV
Front view of the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX.

It may have the familiar three-pointed star on its hood, but the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX is like no other car Mercedes — or any other automaker — has ever built.

The Vision EQXX is an electric concept car that debuted at CES 2022 earlier this year. But where many concept cars can’t even move under their own power, the Vision EQXX spent the months after its Las Vegas reveal setting range records with a pair of epic trans-European road trips. Because while most concepts focus solely on design, the Vision EQXX pushes the envelope in all areas, from the shape of its body to the code in its software.

Read more