Zack over at Valley of the Geeks can’t wait for Smart Car, a line of low-cost, lightweight, mini-cars now owned Daimler Chrysler, to make it to the US:
Forget Dean Kamen’s massively overblown Segue human transporter; the Smartcar is far more likely to impact the world than a $5,000 scooter. In fact, if you’ve been to Europe recently, you’ve probably seen more than a few of these pint-sized Smart Cars zipping around urban areas. They were originally designed by Swatch as the ultimate city car: low cost, small size, light weight, high mileage and extremely compact. MCC Smart Car was eventually picked up by Daimler Chrysler and together they have sold nearly 500,000 of these suckers in 24 countries. The original Smart Cabrio looks like a cross between a golf cart and a Volkswagen, but somehow comes off as being cute and practical at a cost of around 10,000 and a fuel efficiency of 60 mpg. The newest Smart Roadster and Roadster Coupe have a much more stylish look; somewhat like an oversized hotwheels convertible. They still manage to get 55 mpg and a sportscar feel by keeping the driver low to the ground and at the center of gravity.
Cool as they sound, these Smart Cars might be a little bit of a hard sell to an American driving public well accustomed to taking the road in behemoths like the Cadillac Escalade and GMC’s Yukon XL Denali.
