UPDATED: Why Arnell's Peapod Electric Car Launch Will Fail
UPDATE: Peter Arnell showed off his new Peapod electric vehicle with Matt Lauer on the NBC Today Show this morning. The video (which you can see here) gives us three more pieces of information on this ill-conceived device. First that it will now be available at the earliest in October (it was previously reported to be due in spring, see below). Second, that when the machine is placed in reverse it makes a beeping sound as if it were a U-Haul truck. And third, that its range on a single charge is a dismal 30 miles.
Here is BNET’s original post on the Peapod from Jan. 30, 2009:
Arnell Group boss Peter Arnell will launch this spring the GEM Peapod, an electric car from a unit spun off Chrysler, Adweek reports. Arnell has a lot of his reputation riding on this, as he is Chrysler’s chief innovation officer and lead director at Peapod Mobility.
Even if we allow for the fact that he’s an ad agency chief and not a car designer, the Peapod is probably one of the worst vehicles ever conceived. Here’s why.
There’s an old episode of The Simpsons in which the family makes a trip to an aging Epcot-like center, where they ride on an electric car of the future:
Electric Car: Hello. I’m an electric car. I can’t go very fast. Or very far. And if you drive me, people will think you’re gay.
Gay animatronic robots: One of us! One of us!
The scene says pretty much everything you need to know about the development of alternative fuel cars: That every time a big auto company tries to make one, it ends up looking like something nobody wants to drive. And that is exactly what Arnell has given us in the Peapod. (The hideous Prius and EV1 are also good examples, except that spiralling gas prices made a sudden virtue of the Prius’s ugly looks.)
On looks alone, with its contrived smiley face, the Peapod stinks. But forget about the esthetics. From the Adweek interview we learn this: The Peapod is classed as a “Neighborhood Electric Vehicle,” and cannot go more than 25 mph.
In other words, for any American driver outside of Manhattan or a resort town in the Bahamas, it’s completely useless. The Peapod isn’t a car, it’s a golf cart.
Next is the design plagiarism. The Peapod is essentially a less-aggressive looking Smart car. Here’s a picture of a Smart I drove on Santorini. The Smart is gas-driven, and although it looks like a roller skate it handles like a go-kart on steroids. To drive one is to want one. (Also, note how the Smart designers gave the grill an “angry” face — consumers like aggressive looking cars.)
Lastly, Arnell seems to have ignored everything that is 
currently cool about alternative fuel car design. Check out the Chevy Volt, the Dodge EV and the Tesla Roadster (below). They look like cars you’d actually want to own, not tool about in on vacation as a lark.
- See BNET’s previous coverage of Arnell Group:
- Peter Arnell: Pepsi Logo is “Bullshit”; Tropicana Is “Not My Brand … So What the Hell?”
- Burned by Madoff, Kyra Sedgwick Becomes Tropicana Orange Juice Saleswoman
- Arnell’s “Explanation” of Failed Tropicana Design Resembles His Nonsensical Pepsi Document
- In Blow to Arnell, Tropicana Drops Package Redesign
- Pepsi’s Nonsensical Logo Redesign Document: $1 Million for This?
- New Pepsi Logo Seems Similar to Three Other Corporate Emblems
- Pepsi Airs First New Ads Since Switch to TBWA
- Arnell’s Competitors Hate the New Pepsi Logo
- Pepsi’s New $1 Million Logo Looks Like Old Diet Pepsi Logo
- Why Arnell’s Peapod Electric Car Launch Will Fail
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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