Smart has introduced a new special-edition Smart ForTwo model that brings together style, elegance and class. To us, it’s just another special-edition model to get more money out of Smart shoppers that are looking for an affordable compact car.

Known as the Smart ForTwo Edition Highstyle, this special-edition Smart features exclusive chocolate brown metallic paintwork, 15-inch 12-spoke alloy wheels and an interior made up of a mix of fabric and leather.

Prices start at €15,695 for the Smart ForTwo Edition Highstyle with a 71-hp engine and €16,195 with a 84-hp engine. The smaller of the two engine choices features Smart’s micro-hybrid drive technology as standard. The feature, which is essentially a start/stop system, increases fuel-savings by 20 percent.

Source Egmcartech

Daimler announced today that starting November 2009, the Smart ForTwo electric-drive will start rolling off the production line at the company’s factory in Hambach, France.

Power comes from a 40-hp electric-motor fitted at the rear with a peak torque of 89 lb-ft. 0 to 37 mph comes in 6.5 seconds with a top speed of 62 mph. The electric-motor gets its energy from a lithium-ion battery that is provided by Tesla Motors. On a full charge, the Smart ForTwo electric-drive can travel an expected range of 75 miles. A quick 3-hour charge will allow for 25 miles of driving.

The new Smart ForTwo electric-drive will be leased to select customers in Europe and the United States during the testing phase. It will be available to the mass-market in 2012.

Source Autoblog

According to Germany’s Manager-Magazin, Mercedes-Benz has approached Renault about cooperating in the development of a new small car. Although conversations have just started, it seems that Smart could once again have a four-seat car in its lineup.

This would be the second attempt to develop such a model, after the original sales flop of the ForFour. That model, shown above, was c-odeveloped with Mitsubishi and shared the Colt’s underpinnings. Rumors about such new model are not new, but the German publication points that the company’s strategy relies on selling more subcompact premium cars. Developing the new A and B Class models can be pursued as an in-house development, but the family Smart would apparently require a partner.

Source Autoblog

The Smart ForTwo is growing – and here’s the picture to prove it! Auto Express has learned that Mercedes is planning to add a pair of rear doors and extra seats to its famous city car.

Doubling the Smart’s carrying capacity to four people, the new variant will give the range some added practicality, letting it compete with an upcoming raft of desirable small cars such as Audi’s A1 and BMW’s Isetta. No name has yet been give to the newcomer, but it’s likely to carry the ForTwo +2 tag, indicating that it’s very much an addition to the ForTwo line-up.

As you can see from this illustration, the new model is near identical to the two-seater, apart from a pair of neatly integrated small rear doors. These reverse-hinged units give access to two individual chairs in the back. Underneath the skin, the car features the same rear-wheel-drive layout as the regular ForTwo with the engine under the boot floor, but with a stretched wheelbase giving extra legroom.

It’s hoped that the new model will be much more of a success than Smart’s last four-seater, the ForFour. A joint venture with Mitsubishi, which also produced the Colt, the ForFour was not popular and canned after only two years.

The ForTwo+2 is still some way off from reaching showrooms, though. It’s not likely to go on sale until 2012 at the earliest – although when it does arrive, there will be a wide range of engines, all featuring start-stop, plus a fully electric model.

Source Auto Express

Sharon Stone auctioned Ed hardy limited edition smart car # 4 of 100 for $50,000 at Macy’s Passport event.

Macy’s Passport 2008 brings three nights of fashion and compassion to Los Angeles Barker Hangar from September 25 – 26, 2008.

Guests of both Passport nights will enjoy cutting-edge fashion, innovative performances, and celebrity and designer appearances. A runway fashion show will feature the latest fall looks from Calvin Klein, Ben Sherman, Ed Hardy, Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, INC, Alfani and others. Drummer Adrian Young of the Grammy award-winning band No Doubt executes an explosive solo and CHEER LA makes a special appearance to pump up the crowd. Directing the powerful dance segments, celebrity choreographer Brian Friedman returns for the third year and renowned Salsa choreographer Alex Da Silva joins Passport for the first time. Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier and Tommy Hilfiger and Ben Sherman designer Mark Maidment will also be in attendance to show their support for the cause.

Passport’s Gala Evening takes place on Thursday, September 25.Inspired by the art, life and times of Keith Haring, the pre-show lounge will take guests through a series of settings, from New York City street scenes with brownstones and storefronts to an art gallery complete with reproductions of his iconic work. Guests will also enjoy rap artists, breakdancers, and street entertainers. Preceding the fashion show, a live on-stage auction offers one-of-a-kind packages such as an original limited edition Keith Haring print and a trip for two to the 2009 U.S. Open in New York.

This Cool limited edition rolling work of art, inspired by Ed Hardy comes with great audio system , integrated navigation and bluetooth.

Check out the Tattoo Project for full specs.

This is a brand new stainless direct bolt on performance exhaust system for the 2008 Smart Car FORTWO (US version only) . It will provide your car with an extra 6hp and 14 lbs tq and a sporty sound while improving gas mileage. The system is constructed of 304 stainless it will never rust and is an easy do it your self install. Since it is produced by a iconic name like Doug Thorley Headers, you know that this is one of the finest systems produced and features 100% AMERICAN MADE quality. Everything is included for the install including any necessary hardware and detailed instructions.

You can cut your car rear Valance with provided templete. Estimated install time is 60 minutes.

Thanks to : www.4smartcar.com

Lorinser offers different stages of tune for the Smart engine family, starting with the basic 61-horsepower three-cylinder gas engine, which is nudged to 71 hp, and the step-up 71-hp unit, which gets bumped to 77 hp. The turbocharged version of the same engine, as massaged by Lorinser, jumps from 84 to 104 hp, which trims 0-60-mph acceleration to less than 10 seconds and gooses top speed to 112 mph.

The Lorinser aero body kit bundles front skirts with a large air intake and new grille, larger wheel arches and a revamped rear bumper housing quad tailpipes. A set of 17-inch alloy wheels helps dress up the two-seater.

Brushed aluminum and chrome accents highlight the cabin, which has new gauges and a revised console.

Ever have that dream where can of Red Bull is doing something illegal with a smart fortwo? We finally found someone who’s taken that image from pure fantasy into glorified advertising reality: the conversion house Carbonyte UK (also responsible for the world’s first Ferrari ‘limousine’).

Carbonyte unveiled the world’s only stretch Smart car today – called the Carbonyte Smaaart, of course. The Smaaart, and ex-fortwo, is now 17 feet long but still has the same engine and can go 80 mph (but why?). Want your own? Carbonyte will make one for you for around £25,000 and plaster any logo you wish on the side. If you’re just curious to see how it drives – or have some drinks to sell – Carbonye will also rent the Smaaart to you for a day. I seriously hope this line from the press release (available in full after the jump) is a joke: “Carbonyte is also looking to take the Smaaart into the funeral industry by using the latest electric technology to produce an individual yet environmentally-friendly hearse.” Um, no thanks.

Gallery: Carbonyte Smaaart

Press Release:

World’s only stretch Smart car unveiled by Carbonyte UK

Carbonyte UK, creator of the world’s first Ferrari ‘limousine’ has unveiled its latest canny conversion – the world’s only stretched Smart Car, the Carbonyte Smaaart.

The Carbonyte team, led by MD and ex-McLaren man Chris Wright, took a Mercedes Benz Smart Fortwo and stretched its chassis by 2700mm, to create a 17 feet vehicle (5100 mm). Despite growing to over twice its normal length (2695mm), the Smaaart’s new lightweight alloy chassis allows the vehicle to be powered by its original 600cc engine and still comfortably reach motorway speeds of 80mph. In all, the build process took just 300 man hours over four weeks from the initial chassis cut to the final paintwork.

The prototype Smaaart has been designed as a promotional vehicle, featuring a 20:1 scale fibre-glass replica soft drinks can, complete with ring-pull, which serves as van-like storage space for promotional items. The Smaaart can be liveried to any client’s design choice and hired on a daily basis – or bespoke vehicles can be manufactured for individual clients to lease or purchase outright at a projected cost of around £25,000, with almost any theme in the centre.

Carbonyte is also looking to take the Smaaart into the funeral industry by using the latest electric technology to produce an individual yet environmentally-friendly hearse.

“We think the Smaaart will make a great promotional vehicle – combining head-turning looks with the practicality of a van. We’ve already had incredible reactions on the road – the vehicle’s almost stopped traffic, in fact the same reaction we had with the stretched Ferrari,” said Chris Wright.

For more information on the Carbonyte Smaaart, visit www.carbonyte.co.uk

[Source: Carbonyte]

Safety ratings for the 2008 Smart sedan got mediocre ratings leading to a noted “safety concern” by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The concern was over frontal impact and resisting rollover.

In the five-star rating system, the 2008 Smart sedan got four stars for protecting the driver in a frontal impact. It got three stars for the passenger in frontal impact and three stars for resisting a rollover. In the side-impact test, the car’s door came unlatched — causing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to footnote the score with a “safety concern.” But the door problem did not subtract from the car’s five-star rating for side impact.

Results were made public Thursday.

Smart’s scores are generally at the upper end of the rating system, but increasingly all vehicles are getting four and five stars in most categories.

This “grade inflation” has prompted NHTSA to undertake an overhaul of the testing and rating program — called the New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP — so that it better differentiates between good and average vehicles.

That plan was announced in January 2007. NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason has told Automotive News that completion of the program overhaul is one of her priorities before the Bush administration ends next January.

The tests, intended to help consumers choose safer vehicles, are separate from but similar to crashes that are conducted to ensure that a vehicle meets federal safety standards.

In other words, even a poor performer would not “fail” an NCAP test, but it would get a rating of one or two stars.

Smart ForTwo’s decent scores may serve to alleviate public concern about the safety of the vehicle on U.S. roads.

Smart sold 1,734 of the microcars in the U.S. in March. The automaker has sold 3,476 of the vehicles since it arrived in showrooms in mid-January. Smart says 67 retail centers are selling the vehicle now. The company says it has “well over 30,000 net reservations and dealership traffic remains strong.”

NHTSA cautions that comparisons of test results across vehicle class and size categories are valid only for side impact and rollover scores.

Comparison of frontal impact scores is valid only for vehicles of similar size and class.

That means the scores do not indicate how a Smart would fare in a head-on collision with a much bigger or heavier vehicle.

Daimler has sold 3,476 Smart ForTwos since the vehicle arrived in showrooms in mid-January.
Source: Automotive News

Penske is working with Mercedes-Benz to meet an increased consumer demand on fortwos.

Roger Penske, the CEO of the company’s namesake and the sole importer of the smart brand into the U.S., says that with demand at its current level, dealers could offload 40,000 fortwos to customers this year. The only problem: the U.S. market is only getting 25,000.

Penske is currently talking with Mercedes-Benz, smart’s parent company, to see if it can ship more fortwos Stateside in the coming months, but that looks unlikely considering that the smart factory is running at full bore for the year.

Smart expects to sell 3,000 fortwos in the first quarter of this year through the 67 dealers (mainly Mercedes-Benz dealerships that have bought a franchise) currently in the U.S. That number is expected to increase to 74 by the end of the year. Although pre-order cancellation numbers haven’t been officially released, some dealers are anticipating that around 25-percent of potential buyers that put down the required $99 deposit might opt out of the diminutive coupe. Thankfully, smart dealers in the U.S. have agreed not to mark up the cars at the risk of losing their franchise, according to the president of smart USA, David Schembri.

[Source: Autoweek]