Warren over at Mototek (Austin) forwarded THIS image from a California hotel room window in Burbank. From what I gather it’s the beginning of the SMART car exposure campaign in the USA. If you live in Burbank, keep an eye out for these guys and say “Hi” to Arch (who shot this photo) if you see him.
Wish I could be there. I’m just glad they decided to make it a tad bit BIGGER for the American market. I’m not sure we’d be very comfortable in the original Smart seen below, up on a hydraulic lift.
OH! And, check out the Car Body Design site to see some fantastic photos of Smart FourTwo redesign prototypes. They were DEFINITELY thinking outside the box with some of those submissions.
***UPDATE***
Orin informs us in the comments area that the tour going on right now in LA, will travel across the USA until early November. Go HERE to find out when YOU can take one for a spin in y0ur city.
(We won’t see one in Austin ’till Halloween. Please don’t dress them up as little pumpkins. Thanks.)
31. May 2007 at 9:21 pm
I don’t understand what all the hub-ubb is about these Smart-Cars.
For a car their size, they should be getting at least 70-80mpg.
Larger compacts in Europe (Ford, Opel , Renault, VW) have been producing cars that get 50+ MPG since the 1990′s.
1. June 2007 at 12:43 am
You can find all the details about the “street smart road show” here. It will be stopping in Austin in October.
1. June 2007 at 1:40 am
Gas mileage for compact cars seems to have a lot more to do with HOW you drive than WHAT you drive. Really careful drivers have been reporting 50 mpg from old Honda Civics, while other people can barely manage 35 mpg from a Prius. I’m curious what the real-world mileage of a Smart would be for different people.
1. June 2007 at 3:01 am
Yes, here’s my age showing…
I routinely got 45MPG from my ’64 VW.
My ’79 Civic bested at 52 on the freeway but usually in the high 40′s. That’s similar to the 2 scoots I have now. Over the years, there have been a few American cars that would find their time today but for at least 2 factors:
1. The greed of the manufacturers from going cheap (read Vega, Corvair & Pinto) and
2. The same “It ain’t a real car” attitude that fuels the scooter/ bike snobbery.
There’s always got to be a trade-off>>>
My hatchback Pinto and Kamback Vega might have gotten 5MPG less, but fold down the back seat, and there was plenty of make-out room.
How odd for the French not to include that feature in a car called “Passion.”
1. June 2007 at 3:08 pm
Chunky Lover! (any relation to Heavy D, the Overweight Lover?)
For me, the hub-ubb is that Smart is a start. The only way we’ll be able to make a BIG impact on fuel economy in the USA is to get Americans accustom to SMALLER vehicles.
Sure, Hummer might start shipping hybrid H3′s with a Carbon Fibre body and aluminum chassis as soon as I get a case of the flying ass-monkeys… but until then we need to begin welcoming the microcar in America.
Sure it’s not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction PLUS it’s so damned cute!
4. June 2007 at 9:06 pm
The Smart is not for kids. What good is a car (when your young) if you ain’t got room to get makey-outy?
Long live the Pinto!