Courrèges ZOOOP

I’m unbelievably tired of automakers, governments, and internet commenters using ‘regulations’ as a shield for their fears.

In many of the world’s cities, humanity is squeezing itself between a lack of alternative transportation infrastructure — bicycles, rail, pedestrian zones, etc. — and increasingly bad traffic, resource-intense vehicles, intrusive computerized safety systems, with higher costs.

This isn’t a political statement, because profit-making industries have several effective levers for outlasting most opposition. ExxonMobil goes back to 1882, in case you needed a reminder. Royal Dutch Shell, in operation for more than 117 years. Tesla’s profits and its stock price-enhanced power? Seem unbelievable.

Any opposition I voice here individually to Big Oil or Big EV is but a bug on the windshield of those companies’ smallest investors. Still, I will buzz.

A Courrèges Wheel Tribute | Kyusha Shoes

Andre Courrèges passed away this past January. Best known for mini-skirts & go-go boots Courrèges may also have brought us the most unique kyusha wheel line up.

Back HomeQ Osborne

Two things are true: everyone has a right to drive — but driving shouldn’t be foisted upon us as a requirement for getting from A to B. Cars shape our cities, and countless successful civic transformations prove it doesn’t need to be like this.

At the same time, we’ve been surrendering our own sense of agency and ability to increasingly complex vehicles that promise to do everything, yet will still leave you with nothing when it all goes wrong. And it does, more than it should. 

And when you pay as much to drive as humanity does, how could we admit to ourselves that in most places car dependency really sucks?

Infuriatingly to me, car dependency has an adverse effect on the enjoyment of driving. The cost, the traffic, the millions of anonymous crossovers.

Pick any sport or activity: driving, tennis, billiards, cycling, yoga — happiness, pleasure, all that good juice is derived from the mastery of things we enjoy. And herein lies the clue to unwinding some of the damage we’ve inflicted on ourselves.

We’re car-dependent societies, yet if the goal here was to enjoy driving, how did we get it so wrong? 

Ride with Courrèges

One of the things I like most about Courrèges’ vision is that it wasn’t just about the clothes, it was a lifestyle. Courrèges was fun, it was light, and most of all it was full of optimism. Models would come out onto the runway smiling and dancing, a first for the sombre world of haute couture. The rounded shapes, the

Lucas Martin VintageLucas Dovarganes

On an individual level, it takes years of experience and genuine mastery to ensure cars and driving remain fun — to find your happy car, road, and preferred mechanic.

From servicing to researching trim levels to financial planning and shopping for insurance, anyone who calls this a ‘hobby’ in 2025 has earned money or comes from it. 

The rest of us scrabble about on social media, forums, and small events where we a) try to hold on to the magic of transformative past car experiences b) LOUDLY COMPLAIN that the vehicles we’re nigh-on required to buy in are becoming worse precisely because of lobbied-for regulations.

Spoiler alert, alright?

Regulations can be changed at any time. 

I don’t say this in a glib way, it’d take tremendous effort to repeal enough safety standards to allow for the Courrèges ZOOOP to fly around our cities. 

Our fears surrounding safety (due to not accepting our responsibility as drivers) keep handing bodies over to the cosseted noncompliance of Tesla’s Autopilot featureset, where you’re only as safe as your last screen tap. Not to worry, after ignoring Tesla for the better part of a decade, many other automakers are hellbent on emulating them. Can’t wait.

Wouldn’t it be better if we ZOOOP’d from light to light? 

Or, I should say, right-sized our vehicles for the task at hand? Bicycles and city cars for cities, fast, affordable, and safe rapid transit options for intra-city lines and an interconnected web of air terminals and rail hubs that meant door-to-door navigation didn’t require a driver’s license, insurance, and a lease?

This is not ZOOOP. Our roads are not ZOOOP. We are, painfully, not yet ZOOOP.

If it’s a ZOOOP or a Ford F-150, I’m taking the ZOOOP. It’s not even close. ZOOOP and a Toyota Corolla? Can’t compete with a reverse-opening yellow clamshell canopy. Against a Tesla Model 3? ZOOOP’s infotainment could be mistaken for “reality” because the fidelity is that good.

ZOOOP’s successor charged from 0 to 100% in only 5 minutes, offering 200 km (~120 miles) of range…six years ago.

The ZOOOP is an even older design, dating from 2006, yet still offered a total range of 450 km (279 mi). I’ve seen the zero to 100 km/h time quoted at 6 seconds and a top speed approaching 180 km/h, which is plenty for a gigantic zygote.

Really, Coqueline Courrèges the inventor is as opposite to Elon Musk the ‘take creditor’ as you could picture.

Fearless, intelligent, and stylish, the Parisian designer’s dedicated fan base and her way of saying “ZOOOP” is everything the world needs from our transportation executives.

Invention is so rare that we forget taking credit is a poor substitute for creativity. 

ZOOOP and subsequent models, plus many of the cars I mention here on purpose, should not need to fit into an oversized, outdated box of what constitutes a “car”. Compared to vintage vehicles, especially poorly maintained or Pre-War examples, I’d much rather ZOOOP. 

Am I alone in this? 

Coqueline had more than 100 years of automotive history to draw upon, yet the ZOOOP, designed in her garden, looks unlike any other electric car on the market past, present, or future.

(OK, maybe the Citroën Coccinelle, Solaemon-Go or Nike ONE 2022.)

ZOOOP, like the sunny-side up egg it resembles, is timeless.