Yet another smart move, even if the ideas are getting predictable. This time, in conjunction with a Danish urban interior design house, another special edition of the tiny tyke has come about – the smart fortwo BoConcept signature style.

The edition is a base fortwo passion decked out with Brabus kit and BoConcept design elements. In terms of the former, add-ons include a front spoiler, side skirts, Xclusive headlights and a Brabus sports package made up of a sports exhaust system, Monoblock VII alloy wheels and sports suspension.

As for cues from the Danish design house, the body panels are done in matt crystal white, with matt oriental brown metallic as the contrast shade. Light lemon striping on the mirror caps and alloy wheels complete the job.

Inside, the seats, door trim, dashboard and steering wheel get tobacco brown leather, and that light lemon is again seen as detailing. Of course, BoConcept lettering is to be found, in this case on the black velour floormats and the seats. Wonder just how many special editions they can possibly wring out of the little one before everyone gives up. The Hello Kitty version and the winged wonder seen recently are the more, er, notable ones.

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If this one looks familiar (surely you could spot it from a mile away), that’s because you’ve seen it before – the very reflective smart forstars concept premiered at last year’s Paris show. No harm revisiting it since it’s here at the ongoing Auto Shanghai – especially when it looks like that.

Measuring 3.55 metres long, the two-seater sports utility coupe features a glass roof that affords passengers a view of the starry sky, and shares the main features of its body with the smart for-us concept from the 2012 Detroit show.

The smart forstars concept’s wet, shiny look is thanks to its alubeam rouge paint working off contrast with the matte metallic titanium colour of the tridion safety cell. Wheels are 21-inch alloys shod in 245/35 Michelin sports tyres.

More alubeam rouge is to be found in the out-of-this-world interior, strikingly contrasted by mother-of-pearl white and brushed aluminium elements. The seats are trimmed with high-quality white bag leather.

Power comes from the Brabus smart electric drive‘s magneto-electric motor, which is fed by a 17.6 kWh lithium-ion battery. Output numbers are 80 hp and 135 Nm of torque, while top speed is in excess of 130 km/h.

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Something winged, and smart at that. In cooperation with fashion designer Jeremy Scott, smart has transformed a fortwo electric drive into what’s called the smart forjeremy, replete with wings.

Yes, wings. Apparently, the appendage is a familiar trademark of the American designer, and those on the car – which made its first appearance at the LA Auto Show – light up like igniting rockets to form avantgarde rear lights.

Aside from them wings, which are made of transparent fibreglass and decorated with rocket-shaped elements that light up red, unique design cues include wider rear tyres and rear wheel arches. To boot, the wheel rims are shaped like aeroplane propellers. Well, why not, since there are already wings.

White and chrome are the primary shades, as you might have noticed from the photos, not just outside but inside the car as well.

White nappa leather adorns the instrument panel, seats and door trim, while chrome is to be found on the main door trim, closing handles, the side boomerangs of the instrument panel and the characteristic rings on the dashboard instruments.

And in case you think it’s just a one-off, it isn’t – word has it that the smart forjeremy will be launched next year as a limited special edition. Haute couture statement, anyone?

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Something smart, and inevitably, it’s for Paris. The company will premiere its forstars Concept at the show, and the shiny offering is an electrically-driven, two-seater sports utility coupé.

Its name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the glass roof above the passengers that provides a clear view of the starry sky. Additionally, a video projector in the front bonnet, which offers the chance to do your own drive-in experience (wall not provided), plays on the – movie – star theme.

Exterior design cues include a saucy smile on a friendly looking face – it’s almost like a Cars character come to life. With convex and sensuously-shaped body surfaces, the forstars shares the main features of its body with the smart for-us.

Like the smart for-us, the lower tailboard at the rear can also be opened electrically – the tailgate slides down in a parallel position, then the cargo floor including tailboard retracts by 280 mm, which then offers easy access to the cargo area.

The charging socket for the high-voltage battery is found inside the right-hand tail light, whilst the left-hand one has space for a beverage can, keeping a drink handy. As for the video projector, it sits in the air scoop on the bonnet.

The 3.55 metre-long forstars rolls on 21-inch alloys and 245/35 Michelin sports rubbers, and is dressed in an extravagant wet-look red called alubeam rouge, working off contrast with the matte metallic titanium colour of the tridion safety cell.

The cabin features more alubeam rouge as an accent colour, working with surfaces in mother-of-pearl white and brushed aluminium elements. As for the seats, these are trimmed with high-quality white bag leather, with white piping.

The forstars is powered by a magneto-electric motor taken from the new Brabus smart electric drive, but power has been increased to 60 kW here, with juice provided by a 17.6 kWh lithium-ion battery. Other numbers include 135 Nm of twist and a top speed of more than 130 km/h.

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Something a little different then. Swiss company Rinspeed will be showcasing its newest concept called Dock+Go at the Geneva show next week. Designed by Frank Rinderknecht and built by Peter Kägi and his company 4erC, the concept is actually a tag-on item, essentially an easy-to-dock, single-axle backpack on wheels.

The third on-demand axle pack is modular, so it’s a matter of strapping it on for extended carrying capacity, without creating unnecessary space nor superfluous weight when it’s not needed. For demonstration purposes, the company has selected a smart fortwo as the tango partner.

Different “packs” can turn fortwo into something far more capacious – for instance, a pack can turn the car into a pizza delivery vehicle, complete with a built-in isothermal box. Or it’ll allow winter sports enthusiasts to comfortably stow their gear. In Geneva, Rinspeed is due to show a rolling “sound pack,” which multimedia and infotainment specialist Harman has filled with the latest high-end sound solutions in order to guarantee a first class acoustical experience.

The Dock+Go pack is finished in a silver outer skin from AkzoNobel, with a finish that resembles sparkling ice crystals, and for wheels it wears 7.5-inch AEZ wheels wrapped with 205/40 series low-rolling-resistance Goodyear donuts. Other features to be found on the unit include a PTC heater from Eberspaecher catem (to keep things warm) and a Lumitec EL (electroluminescent) lighting system on the side panels.

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It’s called the smart for-us, and it’s a tongue-in-cheek take on what an urban pickup should really look like. The tiny tot, which debuted in Detroit, measures in at 3.54 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and 1.7 metres tall, making it an absolute dwarf compared to a typical American pickup.

The concept EV’s drive system is based on the smart fortwo electric drive’s, with a 55 kW magneto-electric motor being provided juice by a 17.6 kWh lithium-ion battery. Performance specs include 130 Nm of torque and a 120 km/h top speed.

Design-wise, the for-us exterior features convex and, as the company puts it, sensuously shaped body surfaces. The large brand emblem is proudly sported on the grille, and the front has a pronounced three-dimensional design with an under-ride guard finishing off the lower part of the front end.

At 2.48 metres long, the wheelbase is 613 mm more than the fortwo’s, and the track has also been widened by 50 mm on each side to help emphasise the robust look of the study. At the same time the extremely short overhangs at the front and rear make it exceedingly compact.

The tailboard at the rear of the smart for-us is electrically driven. When it opens, the cargo floor – including tailboard – retracts by 280 mm, and then the tailgate slides down in a parallel position, allowing easy access to the load on the 900 mm cargo area.

Inside, the for-us features sleek, taut surfaces in mother-of-pearl white, with its technical functional elements finished in brushed aluminum to provide contrast. Meanwhile, the seat shells, which are open in the middle, are covered with a soft yellow fabric throw, giving them a hammock-like seating feel.

Rather smartly, in place of a conventional rear-view mirror, the smart for-us features a smartphone accommodated in a holder on top of the instrument panel support, allowing the driver to see what’s happening on the road behind with the help of an integrated video camera.

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No, it’s not available commercially in Malaysia, and even if it was, it would easily cost more than a C 250 CGI. The smart fortwo electric drive seen here is actually making a stopover in the country – the Singaporean-based vehicle is in town courtesy of its appearance at the recent 1st Malaysian-German Sustainable Automotive Mobility Conference 2011, which was organised by the Malaysian German Chamber of Commerce.

You can however catch the car in the metal, if that be your sort of thing, over the weekend – the fortwo electric drive is on display at the Highstreet zone of 1 Utama shopping centre, and it’ll be there until Sunday.

A bit about the car, for those who don’t know what it’s all about yet. The second-generation fortwo electric drive is equipped with a 30 kW permanent magnet motor offering 120 Nm of torque, and driven by a single-speed fixed gear ratio transmission.

The car’s water-cooled 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery, which is housed between the axles and occupies the space where the fuel tank is located in a conventional fortwo, is good enough to give it an operating range of 135 km. Which won’t quite take you from KL to KLIA and back, but ample enough for light-duty in-town use.

The 148 kg battery – made by Tesla Motors – has a full recharge time of eight hours, juiced via a household socket, but if you only need to do around 30-40 kilometres of travelling a day, the vehicle only needs to be charged for three hours.

And if you putter around at the average 25 to 30 km/h that smart says is normal in city traffic, the fortwo electric drive can go for around four to five hours continuously before it needs to be recharged.

Other performance figures for the 890 kg rear-wheel drive fortwo include a 0-50 km/h (yes, you read right, half a century) time of 5.8 seconds (or if you prefer, a 0-60 km/h time of 6.5 seconds) and a maximum speed of 100 km/h.

As you’d expect, due to the cost and supporting infrastructure limitations, there aren’t that many fortwo electric drives about – the few thousand examples worldwide are in the hands of selected customers, with leases offered for a period of four years and 60,000 kilometres. In the case of this example, it’s part of a EV case study being conducted by the Singaporean government.

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Daimler AG has scrapped plans to sell a smart-badged B-segment car in the US based on a Nissan. We first heard news of this plan in October last year where it was reported that Smart USA had signed a MOU with Nissan to collaborate on a new vehicle for the US market. There were even sketches of a car that looked like a Nissan Micra with smart styling.

Mercedes-Benz USA also announced that it would be handling the smart brand itself in the USA from now on, taking over distributorship of the brand from dealer Penske. This is in line with Daimler AG’s global integration of Smart into its Mercedes-Benz cars unit since September last year, with Smart USA being the last country where it has remained separate until now.

But the real reason for the integration of Smart until MB Cars is to help with the upcoming tighter Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to be implemented in the USA in 2016. CAFE is a strange regulation in the US that averages the fuel economy of all models sold by a company. CAFE is currently at 30.2mpg but in 2016 it will be 39.0mpg.

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You’d figure that something already as cute as a button doesn’t really need to be transmogrified, but why deprive good marketing when the opportunity presents itself? Case in point – the smart fortwo cdi, which now comes in a special limited run called the lightshine edition.

It’s based on the passion coupé model, and exterior-wise, the lightshine edition gets a combination of light green matte body panels, LED daytime running lights, colour coded headlamp bezels, ‘lightshine’ badging and new pulse three-double spoke alloys in an exclusive paint finish.

As for the interior, the lightshine gets new upper dashboard and glovebox designs along with improved materials and new fabric pattern. The passion model’s high line navigation system is to be found here, with a new larger touchscreen, CD/DVD/SD functionality and iPod interface in the mix.

Other dress up items include a sporty three-spoke steering wheel with paddle shifters and floor mats with the ‘lightshine’ logo. Just 86 of these cars are destined for the UK market, all equipped with the 54 hp cdi engine and softip transmission of the pulse version.

Gallery after the jump.

[zenphotopress number=999 album=1871]

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Now, why be content with a mere pencil/lunch box or backpack when you can have a car that shows the world just how much you love this particular Japanese feline?

Yes, if you happen to own a smart fortwo, you can now express your love for Hello Kitty in much bigger fashion, with nothing less than a car wrap that screams kitty kat all the way.

smart USA has been offering a series of different vehicle wraps, which are made of 3M vinyl, through its smart Expressions customisation program launched a few months ago. Now, it has teamed up with Sanrio to offer Hello Kitty vehicle wraps for the car.

Three different full body wrap designs (named Hello Kitty Everywhere, Hello Kitty Peeking and Hello Kitty Happy), each with a selection of colour schemes, are available, in addition to a series of partial wrap designs and colours.

In total, there are 22 full and partial wrap design and colour combinations from which to choose, so you can go ga ga with this cat the way you fancy, in the process transforming the cute car into a supercute one, for some at least. I’d like to see how many guys will be caught dead in one of these.

Gallery after the jump.

[zenphotopress number=999 album=1638]

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Smart USA has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan on the collaboration of a new vehicle for sale in the US market. The car, a five-door, B-segment gasoline engine model derived from Nissan, is expected to go on sale in late 2011.

The sketches provide an inkling as to what the future model, which will be built on a new global platform in one of Nissan’s factories in the US, might look like. “The new vehicle will expand smart USA’s product lineup, offering five-seat capacity while maintaining the core principles of efficiency and conservation,” said smart USA president Jill Lajdziak.

This looks to be the first step in the broad cooperation plan Smart’s parent company Daimler and the Renault-Nissan alliance have planned, as an interim before new products fully jointly developed by Daimler, Nissan and Renault arrive in the market in 2013.

High resolution pictures after the jump.

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Smart has just released official pictures of their escooter concept. Looks wise, it sports LED lights, solar cells and a green/white paint scheme. The scooter uses a 48-volt lithium ion battery pack, which gives it an approximate range of 100 kilometres over a single charge. When juice does run out, a normal household socket could be used to recharge the batteries.

In terms of performance you can expect the scooter to reach a top speed of 45km/h, as it is driven by a disc shaped wheel hub motor in the rear wheel with an output of 4kW/5.3hp. Apart from the powertrain, Smart say that the chassis structure is based on the tridion safety cell of the Smart Fortwo”, with the use of swappable plastic body panels.

Other features available with the Smart escooter are anti lock brakes, Blind Spot Assist and an airbag that is tucked under the handle bar paneling. Just like the Mini E Scooter, the Smart escooter also has a compartment for an iPhone. It replaces the normal instrument panel and gives you speed, range, battery status and it can also act as a navigation system. An image gallery is available after the jump.

[zenphotopress number=999 album=1528]

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Here are some updates on the collaboration between Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Back in April when the partnership was announced, the stated scope was focussed on small car development and engine sharing (read our previous post here). In a recent interview with Reuters, Thomas Weber, Head of Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, has confirmed that the German carmaker will broaden the partnership with Renault-Nissan into electric vehicle (EV) development.

The goal is to cut costs by building scale. “We won’t be able to meet the target of 95 grams CO2 in 2020 without electric vehicles with batteries and fuel cells,” Weber was quoted as saying, adding “it won’t be easy to then also earn money with these cars.”

Besides that, the partnership will birth a shared RWD architecture for the next smart fortwo, a new smart four-seater and the next-gen Renault Twingo. The first of these cars will roll out from 2013 with the smart plant in France building the two-seater versions and the Renault plant in Slovenia building the four-seater variant. It was announced that there will be EV versions.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is one of the main movers of EVs in the motoring world. They have invested an estimated €4 billion into the field and have plans to launch up to eight EVs in at least five key segments – starting with the Nissan Leaf, which will be delivered to European customers early next year. US allotment for the car has been fully spoken for. Next in line are the Renault Fluence ZE saloon and Kangoo Express ZE in mid 2011.

Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn is very bullish about EVs, saying that they will comprise 10% of all car sales within a decade, and they’re expecting to build 500,000 plug ins by 2012.

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Scooters seem to the in thing at Smart and BMW-owned MINI, as they both announced the presentation of electric models in Paris, at the end of the month.

Along with a few sketches of the concept electric model, MINI has revealed plans of showcasing the scooters in three different trims. One will even feature a design similar to the MINI E project, their plug-in electric Cooper.

No other details about the scooter have been released, but speculation has pointed to the use of lithium ion batteries in MINI’s bikes.

Similarly, apart from a few sketches of their scooter concept, Smart has revealed very little of its electric concept. We’ll definitely keep you updated as more information is released at the Paris show. Look after the jump for more pictures.

MINI E Scooter
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Smart Electric Scooter
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The Brabus Ultimate High Voltage Concept is basically a Brabusified electric smart fortwo, and despite the word concept in its name its actually supposed to be very close to production, though the name might change.

Though they call it “Ultimate”, I think it could probably get better than this because a 0 to 100km/h acceleration time of 9.8 seconds is decent but hardly what you’d call sporty.

The electric motor puts out 82 horsepower and a peak torque 280Nm of torque right from zero revolutions. Such is the characteristics of electric drives that you might as well drop the word peak from the phrase peak torque.

Look after the jump for a full photo gallery of the electric smart.

[zenphotopress number=99 album=505]

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Mercedes-Benz’s platform partner for its next smart car set for a 2013 debut will be Renault. “It’s a key component in plans to grow the Smart brand. We’re looking to diverge into other potentially lucrative market segments, and not only in Europe but on a worldwide basis, including North America,” said a Mercedes-Benz official to ANE.

Renault will be supplying smart a platform for a new four-seater smart (effectively a replacement for the smart forfour) and the word is that it will be a modified version of the Clio II platform that underpins the Renault Twingo, though I would have thought the Renault-Nissan B platform (Clio III, Latio, Logan, etc) would be more suitable in size for a smart forfour replacement.

The smart forfour was a hatchback based on the Mitsubishi Colt and was produced at Mitsubishi’s Dutch NedCar plant. Who knows, we could also see an electric version using technology from the Nissan Leaf.

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Daimler has confirmed that it will put the smart fortwo electric drive into small series production after a successful 100 car UK trial involving the Metropolitan Police, universities, local councils, architects and energy companies. The trial involved select customers leasing the vehicle for 4 years at a monthly cost of £375.

The smart fortwo electric drive is powered by a 30kW electric motor built by Zytek. It runs on a single gear transmission and smart claims that cost-wise, it is able to achieve the equivalent of 300mpg. You charge it via a regular 3-pin plug as it has its own own-board charger. 0 to 60km/h takes 6.5 seconds, which isn’t very sluggy at all actually but because it only has a single gear ratio, top speed is limited to more or less 100km/h.

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Mercedes-owned fuel efficient auto maker; Smart has announced that it will launch the Smart fortwo Edition Limited Three in Geneva, Switzerland. This new limited edition model which is finished in Melon Metallic Green and powered by a 71HP engine is offered both coupe and cabriolet forms.

It also features micro hybrid drive (mhd) technology which is basically an engine start/stop system to further improve its fuel efficiency. The tiny power plant shuts down when the driver brakes and when the vehicle’s speed falls below 8 km/h. It will then restart when as soon as the driver releases the brake pedal.

This helps reduce fuel consumption to only 4.4 litre (4.5 for cabriolet) for every 100 kilometers traveled, which accounts for 20% reduction with the start/stop technology. It also produces only 106 grams of emission per kilometer.

Other features included with the Edition Limited Three with soil-coloured interior; 15 inch alloy wheels in a sporty 6-spoke design, aluminium-effect “limited three” logos in the mirror triangle, automatic temperature control, instrument panel featuring dark brown leather-effect details, 3-spoke sports steering wheel with steering wheel gearshift, and for the coupé, a panoramic roof with sunblind.

The Smart fortwo Edition Limited Three costs 15,470 Euros as a coupe and 18,510 Euros as a cabriolet. Continue reading to view two more images of the interior.

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Daimler AG is planning to launch two electric vehicles in 2010 – an electric-powered smart and an electric-powered Mercedes-Benz. These electric vehicles will be powered by batteries, but a limited run of fuel-cell powered vehicles will also be introduced in 2010.

You can expect these vehicles to be smaller models such as the next generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class or whichever vehicle replaces the A-Class as we know it in Mercedes-Benz’s model line-up.

There is currently a batch of 100 electric-powered smart fortwos crunning in the UK, modified by Zytek Electric Vehicles. It is called the smart ed (ed = electric drive). These are powered by a 30kW (41 horsepower) electric motor at the rear, with sodium-nickel chloride batteries. It can travel a maximum of 110km on a full charge, and can charge up from 30% to 80% in four hours, or 100% in eight hours. It goes to a top speed of 120km/h.

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The BRABUS ULTIMATE 112 is a special edition 112 unit run of the drop top smart fortwo powered by a 112 PS inline-3 turbocharged engine with 150Nm of torque between 2,800 to 4,200rpm mounted at the rear of the car. Equipped with a Brabus Widestar bodykit and 18 inch Brabus Monoblock VI wheels, It is available in a single special edition colour, a metallic pearlescent orange.

Other than engine and bodyworks, the BRABUS ULTIMATE 112 also gets a height-adjustable Brabus coil-over suspension, a stainless steel dual tailpipe sports exhaust system, and a Brabus colour-coordinated interior chock full of Brabus emblems featuring black Brabus Mastik leather with orange seams. 0 to 100km/h takes 9.5 seconds and top speed is electronically limited to 170km/h.

More photos after the jump.

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If you’re free with nothing to do this weekend, you’re spoiled for choice for events to attend! Other than Auto Eurokars’ event, you also have Cycle & Carriage Bintang’s promotions in the Klang Valley. There will be Cycle & Carriage Bintang Carnivals at both CCB’s Lot 9, Jalan 219 showroom along the Federal Highway, as well as the CCB Mazda Showroom at Jalan Ampang from 10am to 5pm. The Lot 9 Carnival will have refreshments. You’ll be able to take a pick from a wide range of well-maintained Mercedes-Benz and smart company cars, demonstrator units, showroom models and pre-owned vehicles – Mercedes Benz A, C, E, and S-class as well as smart demo cars. The demo cars are attractively priced and in mint condition, complete with the latest registration, full after-sales facilities and fast delivery. Up to 90% financing, up to 9 years is also available.

There is also a road show being held at The Street in by far the classiest shopping mall The Curve, Mutiara Damansara from the 15th December to 17th December 2006, from 10am to 10pm. All latest models are being displayed with discount prices just for visitors of the roadshow. Also, the smart cars are being sold at CCB staff price. There are also door gifts upon test drive enrollment.

For more information, contact Cycle & Carriage Bintang Berhad – PJ Autohaus ( 03–7872 8000), Mutiara Damansara (03-7727 3213), Ampang (03-2144 9999), Johor Bahru (07-238 2299), Ipoh (05-506 4266)

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Video: 5th Gear smart fortwo Crash Test

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Most of you associate smart cars with tiny little toy cars which don’t look like they belong on highways at all. This is something outrageous – introducing the smart forfun2! While there were talks about an SUV smart car called the smart formore, that project never materialised. Instead, here you have a concept car called the smart forfun2. It’s hard to put the smart forfun2 and the word tiny in the same sentence.

It was developed by 4X4 Rally Race champion Stefan Attart using a Mercedes Benz Unimog 406, which is actually a really huge truck. The Unimog 406 is given a smart fortwo body and a 5,675cc six-cylinder diesel engine. Ever wondered what those huge monster truck-style wheels actually measure? They’re 26 inches wheels with 140cm diameter tyres. Ground clearance is a high 65cm, while the entire smart forfun2 is 3.7 meters tall.

More photos after the jump.

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Since the tuned Mercedes-Benz E200K report drew so much of flak of still being an old mans car, Dr. S.P. Long has decided to visit this ‘old chaps garage and check out his other boring and conservative ride.

Enter the smart roadster, a small two-seater, rear engined, rear wheel drive roadster by the same people who brought you the E200K. Let’s have a look at how the smart roadster performs in an uncle’s hands.

Report by Dr. S.P. Long.

See this in your rear-view mirror and it wont be for long!

To say that his next car is boring: gosh! Its another DaimlerChrysler AG product. Owned by the uncle himself – what else? It is by Mercedes-Benz, so likely conservative too. Blue colour: possibly looking drab. Small cc engine with turbo: pointless. Handling: BMW will surely beat the heck out of this. Non-AMG version: not an M5 worthy opponent, a “poor mans” Mercedes.

Well to be specific, I had a taxi-ride in this roadster of Mr. Peter Lee. This little smart flies and yet hugs tarmac. Paradoxical? You bet. The uncle you guys mentioned was so maniacal on the road; he was weaving in and out of traffic at 140plus km/h! I was hanging for my dear life because it felt like 200km/h. Exhilarating yet feeling safe. The roadster felt ever so tightly screwed together and planted on the road. And oh so agile and nimble! Ride was firm, a little choppy at times but not uncomfortable. I am not at liberty to mention where we did the ‘Bad Boys run but it was atop and across a very famous landmark up north.

Tridion cage in metallic silver.

This was after I took a leisurely drive in his RM145k smart roadster. The wind in your hair feeling was just so: Priceless. Mind you, he didnt purchase this car using a popular brand of credit card. Admittedly, with the fabric roof retracted back, we had let in a lot of noise and the occasional diesel fumes too. All are however forgiven since it was just lovely hearing the roar of the turbocharged engine – mounted in the rear. ICE upgrades? Dont bother. This car has a soundtrack of its own!

Handling is just so go-kart like. You can just point and shoot this little baby. Cornering lines are ever so faithfully taken. Steering is really sharp and incisive. Nicely weighted and fairly communicative – or was it just lesser rack feedback sensed since there were so many other distractions to saviour? Yes, NVH becomes nicely receptive and sensational in this rag-top. I must have gone mad saying this about noise in your ears, vibration felt through the canvas top and certain road harshness rippling through your butt & spine. It may be drums for the rear wheels, but stopping power is never found to be wanting, likely because of the low kerb weight of 790kg.

The small engine (698cc to be exact) is ever so willing and watching the boost gauge swing in the car reminds you of how responsive the turbine is to your right foot. I will not detail the innards of the car because its just spartan, functional and fun! The manual selections of gears by paddles have to be done ‘lift and shift pattern because it would get jerky if you are relentless on the throttle. This is no DSG but it works fine, much like the smart forfour. Leaving the automated manual to its own devices, I found it to be quicker on the go. Well, maybe youd need to hold a gear or two for B-roads drive, so the manual shifters are not all gimmicky.

Simple alloys but sporty.

I was just wondering if all these Road Runner (remember that famous cartoon?) zipping actions could be just a deception. The smarts diminutive size and open-top feeling may have contributed to the rocketing pick-up of speed. Getting back into my ‘uncle standard E200 Kompressor the next day, I found myself trailing the roadster ever so distantly during a drive over to Ferringhi Beach. Must be the advantageous power-to-weight ratio, I reckoned.

Well, so much for two old guys day out in one of the uncles other car. Until my next contribution (hint: review of another conservative make), keep an open mind guys!

Chunky rear-end misleading of its actual size. Owner ran off: camera shy!

Sorry! No golf bags allowed. Just some snorkeling gears maybe. Tridion cell (in silver) surrounds front bonnet.

Little blown ‘monster sits at the back.

Simplicistic interior. Note turbo boost gauge almost hidden behind wheel rim.

Engine idles high when cold. Paddle shifters lurking behind steering wheel.

The Mercedes played catch-up with the roadster.

The post smart roadster Test Drive Report appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

Ever wonder how the Smart ForTwo would fare in a car accident? Sure the car looks small and fragile, but apparently it has good passenger protection because of it’s Safety Cell unibody. An independant German team did an experiment, orchestrating a simple head-on collision between a Smart ForTwo and a Mercedes Benz S-Class to see what would happen. What I really want to see though is a collision between a Smart ForTwo and an SUV. Video after the jump.

Video: Smart ForTwo VS. Mercedes Benz S-Class

Related Posts:
Smartuki – Smart ForTwo with Suzuki GSXR1000 superbike engine
Top Gear tests Smart ForTwo cornering ability

The post Smart ForTwo Crash Test appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

He approached Z Cars, a kit car company specialising in putting motorcycle engines into cars. Z Cars had put Yamaha R1 engines into Mini Coopers. They seemed like the right people for the job. He also approached Phil Seton of Seton Racing, who provided a personally tweaked Suzuki GSXR1000 engine (stuff like Yoshimura exhausts, etc) which made a maximum of 180hp, screaming all the way up to 13,500rpm. The engine was mounted at the rear of the car. The result was called the Smartuki, a mash of the names Smart and Suzuki of course.

The Smartuki goes from 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds, does the 400 meter dash in 12.4 seconds and tops out at 213km/h. There are two videos of this monster after the jump. The pocket rocket sounds like an F1 car on the track… enjoy!

The post Smartuki – Smart ForTwo with Suzuki GSXR1000 superbike engine appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

In one of my previous posts I mentioned DaimlerChrysler’s efforts to restructure and replan Smarts business model, a company which has not turned a profit in almost 8 years. Casualties of the restructuring operation includes the Smart formore SUV and it was rumoured that the Smart Roadster would also be scrapped after it’s production ended at the end of 2005.

Although Smart will not be producing the Smart Roadster anymore, you will still be able to see it around as DaimlerChrysler has sold the rights and production equipments of the Smart Roadster to a British consortium called Project Kimber. Project Kimber was originally formed to bid for MG, but it lost out in that deal to Nanjing Automobiles.

So the Smart Roadster lives on, though I’m not sure if it will be still called the same name. Maybe Project Kimber will license the name too.

The post Smart Roadster lives on appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

This same engine will be used in the Mitsubishi i minicar. The Mitsubishi i will be available in January 2006. The engines will be produced at Mitsubishi’s engine plant in Mizushima. According to spec sheets of the concept, it’s powered by a 3-cylinder turbocharged MIVEC engine, so likely that and a normally aspirated version would be supplied to smart.

This deal will help ailing Mitsubishi Motors Corporation realize better economies of scale for the new minicar engine series, lowering costs per unit.

Source

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Everyone is into the SUV craze and so is Smart, the small car manufacturer division of Daimler Chrysler. Wikipedia says the Smart formore was supposed to be an SUV based on the same platform as the Mercedes Benz C-class, sharing an architecture that would be used for a future Mercedes Benz MLK-class. But some other sources have said it’s built up from the Smart Forfour chassis which was based on the 2003 Mitsubishi Colt.

The Smart formore would have followed Smart’s classic body styling – interchangeable plastic body panels on a steel frame. The SUV was to be powered by Mitsubishi’s 4G15 1.5 petrol unit, which was also used in the Brabus-tuned version of the Smart forfour.

The project was scrapped as part of DaimlerChrysler’s efforts to restructure and replan Smart’s business model. Smart had not turned a single profit in almost 8 years. The new business model plans to make Smart break-even by 2007. Other casualties as part of the new model was the Smart Roadster. It’s production is to be halted at the end of 2005.

IMHO they should have named the Smart roadster as Smart foreplay :P

The post 2007 Smart formore appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

To get a better idea of how it feels like to drive a Smart, you have to imagine driving a manual car with a rugby player sitting behind you. Just when you are about to change gears, the rugby player kick you in the head, and then your brain starts to spill out from your ears. And then it happens over and over again until you reach the sixth and final gear.

God forbid should you ever decide to stop on a slope, because this car rolls back the moment the brakes are let go, and it takes a second before the transmission wakes up and transfers power to the wheels. You would’ve already reversed into the car behind you, by which the dude would’ve introduced you to his fist, because you’re now apparently a dumb ass driver who own a car which looks like a frog.

Read his full review at his post “Smart is rather stupid.”

I hope the Proton Savvy’s Automated Manual Transmission option does not exhibit such behaviour as described by Kel, since both are manual transmissions with a computer activated clutch. It would be a disaster if it did. A real disaster, and it would seal the Savvy’s death as another failure.

The post Smart’s not so smart transmission appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.