Ford says it wants to give the electric version of the 2012 Focus a unique sound, and has posted four possible choices to the intertubes — from faux internal combustion to what could be a toilet flushing on the starship Enterprise.
The four choices are available above, and in this critic's ear, the fake engine noise actually sounds the most attractive. But it does point out a conundrum: Who are these sounds for, anyway? If you're buying an expensive electric car, its silence is one of its selling points. If you're worried about walking into one, you want a sound that's recognizable rather than something resembling a herd of stampeding Roombas. And federal regulators aren't keen to let people customize their own sounds just yet.
If this is really the wave of the future, why not bring back something with a little more oomph.