- The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is smart (automobile).
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 1999-registered smart car in England |
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smart roadster in England |
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smart (short for Swatch Mercedes Art, sometimes called the MCC smart ) is a brand of microcar. The original smart was a very small 2-seater automobile, but a coupe convertible and small SUV have been added, extending the brand into a true marque, part of DaimlerChrysler as Micro Compact Car GmbH. The company name was changed to smart GmbH in September 2002.
History
The smart fortwo are manufactured at a purpose-built factory complex (called Smartville) in Hambach, France, established in 1994 as a joint-venture of Daimler-Benz and the Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch.
The project was originally supported by Swatch, and was nicknamed the "Swatchmobile". It had a lot of media coverage in Europe. The car was supposed to be full of very innovative features (such as hybrid engine) and to be an affordable car for young people. Its purpose was to "transport 2 people and a case of beer" (later replaced by a case of water).
Being inexperienced in automobiles, Swatch CEO Nicolas Hayek sought an established car maker to produce his Swatch car, and found his first partner in Volkswagen. Common plans never reached a final stage, however, and Swatch began to look for a new partner. They teamed in a joint venture with Daimler-Benz to finalize and produce the product. When the car issued it was far from expectations: technology was conventional and it was more expensive than most small 4-seater cars sold in Europe. The joint venture experienced heavy losses and Swatch pulled out.
fortwo
The fortwo is the original smart model that was launched in 1998 as City Coupe. The name fortwo was introduced when smart began to produce new models. The car is intended primarily for urban use, is powered by small petrol or diesel engines. It is light (740 kg), its construction based on a reinforced steel shell with plastic body panels. Its short length (2.5 m) means that two smarts can share a normal-size parking bay.
The car is popular in Europe and Japan. It is the only non-Japanese car that fulfills the regulations for Keicars. Although one of the cars is an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, the car is not available in the USA. It was introduced in Canada as a 2005 model in September 2004.
Electric vehicle manufacturer, Zap (http://www.zapworld.com/), plans to import smart fortwos from a German dealer and modify them for sale in the United States in 2005.
forfour
The forfour is a new model introduced in 2004. Unlike his little "brother", it is a more conventional car, a real compact segment hatchback with a roomy interior, and four- or five-seater configuration.
The car is produced at the NedCar factory in the Netherlands
in conjunction with Mitsubishi Motors. To save production costs, and allow the brand to price it as a classy "personality" car for in the European market, the smart forfour shares most of its components with the 2003 Mitsubishi Colt, including chassis, suspensions and a new generation of MIVEC petrol engines, 3 and 4 cylinder, ranging from 1.1 to 1.5 L. The 1.5 L cdi diesel engine, on the contrary, is a 3 cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine derived from the 4 cylinder of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. A Brabus prepared sports version will be available from 2005.
smart roadster and roadster-coupé
formore
The larger formore will be released worldwide (including the United States) in 2006. It is a small all wheel drive SUV and rides on the same platform as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The architecture will be shared with the Mercedes-Benz X-Class. Power will come from a 1.8 L straight-4 or a 3.0 L V6. It will be built at a DaimlerChrysler factory in Brazil rather than the French Smartville factory.
The formore was to be smart's first official entry in the United States market. However, DaimlerChrysler is reportedly reevaluating whether to enter the market at all, with a decision expected in March of 2005.
See also
External links
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