The electric beach car, Nosmoke, is now owned by the Kate brand. For the occasion, several technical improvements have been made. At the same time, the manufacturer also announces the arrival of a new 100% electric model next summer competing with the Citroën Ami: the K1.
With the advent of the electric car in recent years, we have seen more or less interesting new models arrive, particularly in the field of micro-mobility. Let’s say that the electric blends rather well with short urban journeys, and small electric cars are now more and more numerous, both for holders of driving licenses and for young people.
The model that interests us today, we already know it, already since it is the Nosmoke, a small vehicle produced since 2012 which echoes the Mini Moke of the 1960s, but with an electric motor. And its sales figures are far from ridiculous, since more than 1,500 copies of this machine have been assembled in Cerizay, in Deux-Sèvres, since it was put into production.
Nosmoke becomes Kate
But there has recently been a change for Nosmoke, since the constructor now becomes Kate, a company created in 2022 by three entrepreneurs. Kate will therefore not start from scratch for her new brand, since the company is thus getting its hands on the industrial tool of Nosmoke. The model is also renamed and is now called Kate Original.
The car receives at the same time some very interesting improvements. There are three variants, each corresponding to a level of autonomy and a maximum speed.
- Kate Original Lite: 100 km range and limited to 70 km/h
- Kate Original Medium: 160 km range and limited to 70 km/h
- Kate Original Extended: 220 km range and limited to 90 km/h
The small car is already available to order in its new versions and sales are made only on the Internet. And even if Kate’s industrial tool is not as important as a major car manufacturer, the catalog is rather well stocked, especially in terms of the choice of colors. There are 14 body colors available, six colors for the roof, three for the rims, three for the seats and four for the seat belts.
In terms of price, the Original, which cost 22,990 euros on the Nosmoke site, now costs €24,590 with Kate. Currently, the Nosmoke Original is accessible from the age of 16 with the B1 license. It is therefore a heavy quadricycle, eligible for the ecological bonus of 900 euros.
The Kate K1 already announced
At the same time, Kate announced the arrival of a new model by the summer of 2023. Named K1, we don’t know much about this model yet except that it will be able to respond to “98% of French travel”with journeys of less than 80 km.
Matthias Goldenberg, Kate’s boss, specifies in the communicated Kate’s ambitions and gives some clues that what the new K1 will be like: ” We are firmly convinced that two-tonne SUVs, thermal or even electric, are not the future of everyday mobility. The car of tomorrow, that of everyday journeys, will be light, clean, sober”.
At the same time, the acquisition of Nosmoke by Kate also frees up “a line of income capable of partially financing future developments”. In other words, the Kate K1 should be produced alongside the Original and the four million euros in turnover generated by the brand last year will make it possible to develop this new model.
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