Photo: Geoffrey Decembry/Pierre Senelet
Call us crazy, but there used to be a time when we were excited about the Smart Roadster. It came out during what we call the renaissance of modern car design, the early 2000s, and had true roadster proportions in a shrunken package.
These things became really cheap after a while, partly because of the reliability and maintenance issues of the tiny 0.7-liter engine, but also because the target audience was so small. Want a modern-classic sports car? Well, you can just as well buy the Audi TT, for which mods are more readily available.
Only if you look at it as a boutique roadster does the sporty Smart start to make sense. You've got a totally original shape from a company with an interesting background (making Swatches) and powered by a small engine mounted at the back. If that were a Japanese car, people would pay $20,000 to have one... but it's French.
A small team of designers put a lot of work into this futuristic Smart Roadster concept, work which the actual company is unlikely to appreciate or even acknowledge. It's a shame, considering this might actually fit in its future lineup.
The exterior work is carried out by Geoffrey Decembry. And because he's the lead designer over at Pininfarina, we can call this a "concept" even though it's not an official one. The interior was taken care of by Pierre Senelet, also a Pininfarina designer.
Their vision covers the normal roadster body with a targa-style top, but also imagines a speedster version. Smart did offer a version of the fortwo that had a similar chop. There's also a coupe version with nice lines and proportions.
Besides the way the headlights work, our favorite feature of this design is the way the hood bulges. It's like the power bulge on a COPO Camaro. Considering the future of the Smart brand is electric, we'd imagine the dome filled by the battery pack to maximize range.
Only if you look at it as a boutique roadster does the sporty Smart start to make sense. You've got a totally original shape from a company with an interesting background (making Swatches) and powered by a small engine mounted at the back. If that were a Japanese car, people would pay $20,000 to have one... but it's French.
A small team of designers put a lot of work into this futuristic Smart Roadster concept, work which the actual company is unlikely to appreciate or even acknowledge. It's a shame, considering this might actually fit in its future lineup.
The exterior work is carried out by Geoffrey Decembry. And because he's the lead designer over at Pininfarina, we can call this a "concept" even though it's not an official one. The interior was taken care of by Pierre Senelet, also a Pininfarina designer.
Their vision covers the normal roadster body with a targa-style top, but also imagines a speedster version. Smart did offer a version of the fortwo that had a similar chop. There's also a coupe version with nice lines and proportions.
Besides the way the headlights work, our favorite feature of this design is the way the hood bulges. It's like the power bulge on a COPO Camaro. Considering the future of the Smart brand is electric, we'd imagine the dome filled by the battery pack to maximize range.
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