OUT THERE ENOUGH?

Being sensible isn't always the smartest move. The BMW CE 02 is evidence enough

- By Yash Sunil

Now, the CE 02 is neither a bike nor a scooter. BMW is pitching this bike as an ‘eParkourer,’ which is a term somebody made up to make ‘urban mobility’ sound less lame. You be the judge of how that turned out. A lot of the marketing material shows pictures of the machine in skate parks, with hip young people in modern streetwear draped over it. Nonetheless, love it or hate it, there’s something about the CE 02 that does get your attention.

Obviously, let’s begin with the way it looks — and top marks to BMW for making something extremely unconventional and so radical-looking. Oriented towards urban mobility, the CE 02 is a small but futuristic EV. Every time I stopped at a traffic signal or parked up, it gathered people around itself, and made me feel like a celebrity. People asked if it was custom-built or if I'd imported it, and they were always shocked to hear that it had rolled off the production line as it looked and that it was built right here in India.