“What will a Vespa look like a hundred years from now?”

It isn’t the sort of question I usually ask myself, but now that Artem Smirnov’s posed the question, I’m forced to imagine what perhaps my favorite two-wheeler brand will look like a century from now. Smirnov’s answer to the question is to simply take Vespa’s attributes as a brand and carry them to the year 2120. In short, look for answers to questions like – What will classical Italian automotive design be in a hundred years? Hundred years since the debut of the Cybertruck, will there be any curvilinear vehicles? And if there are, will they look like the Vespas of today, or maybe a little more modern? Most importantly, will Vespas of the future look ‘cute’? And what exactly will the word ‘cute’ even mean in our technofuture world?

Smirnov’s iteration of the next-gen Vespa surely raises some eyebrows. It looks nothing like the Vespa we see on the road today, but in all fairness, cars today look nothing like they did in the 1920s, so it seems futile to really argue that the next-gen Vespa looks radically different. It, however, does capture a few elements that answer the questions I raised in my previous paragraph. The next-gen Vespa by Artem is clearly an e-scooter. Interestingly enough though, it comes in the format of an e-bike, but still retains that hollow leg-space that scooter designs are famous for – with a rear suspension capping it off. The seat, for the most part, is cantilever, resting directly on the suspension at the back, while the Vespa logo on the front plays a double role of branding as well as being the vehicle’s headlight. On the overall, the vehicle still retains curves in the right places. I could imagine a future where the next-gen Vespa sits in the status quo of ‘cute’, although my only gripe is the absence of that vibrant color palette! What do you think?

Designer: Artem Smirnov