There’s a growing trend in the auto business, I’m sure you’ve noticed, in which cute and charismatic cars of yesteryear are being reinvented as electric cars. This movement isn’t exclusive to the EV world, of course; the New Beetle, oft-maligned 2003 Thunderbird and modern interpretations of the Fiat 500 and Mini demonstrated that nostalgia has always been a major draw, long before fully electric vehicles became feasible. More recently, the Ford Bronco introduction is tugging on heartstrings — and cashing in.
Resourceful automakers are using this big, industry-wide moment to bring back the look of vehicles critical to their past successes and cast them in a new, emissions-free light. Renault is doing it with its new Renault 5 EV, Volkswagen is channeling the Microbus in its ID.Buzz, the Honda E evokes the N360 and City in many ways, and Hyundai has made direct references to its Italdesign-penned Pony Coupe concept in the forthcoming Ioniq 5.
With all that in mind, which classic 20th-century chariot do you think ought to make a comeback as a refreshed, forward-thinking electric model? If you ask me, a new Citroën DS (which I suppose would simply be called DS) could be cool to see, particularly because innovation and aerodynamic efficiency was central to the theme with that car, and as far as I can tell, all of DS’s modern offerings look vaguely like slightly more adventurous Mitsubishis. So it’d certainly stand out, if nothing else.