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A BoConcept Benz, Anyone?

By Rain Noe - February 22, 2013

in Cars

Here's a theoretically interesting pair of design bedfellows: Mercedes has partnered up with BoConcept on the SmartCar you see pictured here, which carries a title longer than the car itself: It's called the "smart fortwo BoConcept signature style," and it will make its first appearance in Berlin next week as a "brand ambassador" vehicle.

Okay, fine, let's get honest. One, I know I lured you into this entry with an alliterative parent-company/sub-brand bait-and-switch in the title. So sue me. But two, looking at these photos, you're probably as underwhelmed as I was by the nature of the collaboration, which seems more like a BoConcept designer text-messaged some Pantone numbers over to Smart HQ rather than the two bodies engaging in a real meeting of the design minds.

So why'm I bringing it up? Because wouldn't it be interesting if a design outfit and an auto manufacturer actually did an earnest design collaboration, going beyond mere color schemes and materials swaps into real ID? Sure, there are some aesthetic risks—I could see a Lincoln kitted out with Ethan Allen couches, or an IKEA/VW collaboration that introduced more particle board than we'd like, but think of the possibilities: Would you not like to drive a Karim Rashid Porsche with an obscenely sensual stickshift? Or a powerful piece of Detroit steel, like a Dodge Charger, tricked out with fellow Michiganite Herman Miller's seating? Or anything with a dashboard designed by Dieter Rams?

All I'm saying is, car companies like Porsche, BMW and now Peugeot have been steadily encroaching into product design territory for years. It'd be nice to see it start going the other way.

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powers

11 years ago

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A pretty decent car that was just never marketed well in the US. I don't see how this is going to help. Though Ford sold tons of those idiotic "Eddie Bauer" Explorers.
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jason

11 years ago

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people tend to forget that the smart car was created in a collaboration between mercedes benz and the swatch group. In that sense it already is a mix between two design strategies. As for BoConcept - I don't think they are (sadly enough) interested in collaborating anywhere further that exchanging material and color ideas. The Smart is just a branding platform in this case.

I think what you are looking for is been realised by Jeremy Scott last year. They called it the Smart Car "Wings" by Jeremy Scott.

I would rather see the Dieter Rams version thou....

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Cameron

11 years ago

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IMO, the 021C is light years beyond this stuff. This is actual lipstick on a pig (read unsightly small car with no MGP benefits). The 021C is a pragmatic fresh concept in terms of usability and minimalism that's beautiful to boot. A far cry from most concept cars these days. It's a shame it doesn't exist (yet). I'd buy one!
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monkeyfumi

11 years ago

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It has been done, and it is usually horrible. See Marc Newsons' 021c for Ford for example.
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MjSilva

11 years ago

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What has not been considered here is that creating an entirely new ID for a collaborative car would cost a fortune in development and especially manufacturing. For Smart to earn any money whatsoever (especially considering that they want to keep the price point somewhat similar to the standard ForTwo), they have to keep risk and development cost down. Thus, mere color and material changes happen. This stuff happens all the time, not just in the car realm.
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EGS

11 years ago

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this effort by Merc reminds me of a famous quote: Lipstick on a pig.
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IDAL

11 years ago

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It's curious, in here, a industrial design website, you only show the car whereas in carbodydesign, they only show the furniture. I think you can have a better idea about the partnership looking at the furniture, rather than looking at the car itself.

http://www.carbodydesign.com/2013/02/smart-and-boconcept-announce-design-partnership/
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Robb

11 years ago

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This reminds me of the Marc Newson x Ford collab from last century. I'll always have a soft spot for it:

http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2009/09/30/marc-newson-x-ford-a-car-that-should-have-been-made-or-should-be-made-now/
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