Smart Car Turns 10!
The SMART Car is still a recent addition to our North American highways. But it has already been ten years (10!) since the very first Smart car hit the streets of Europe. Smart’s ForTwo was initially offered for sale in Germany, followed by eight over European countries. If you’re in the US you’ve only been seeing Smart cars on the road since January of this year. They are becoming a hot commodity already, and will most likely be one of the best selling city vehicles in years to come.
Smart’s design was simple – create a light weight yet safe vehicle that could comfortably seat two people plus a set of luggage. High on the engineering list was also fuel consumption – it needed to be efficient but also have the ability to carry more than a gallon of gas. Smart achieved this, and also created a vehicle with minimal CO2 emissions. Smart’s city coupe (which later became the infamous ForTwo) quickly garnered a cult following.
Smart’s diesel engine creates 45 horsepower on just 3.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers – not that you need too much petrol to get from SoHo to the village. Smart’s ForTwo is a unique car that will undoubtedly continue to impress and strike curiosity in people as the car maker continues to invade the United States with their tiny auto. It’s already been a work of art – as the vehicle was on display at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in 2002.
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