Monday, September 05, 2005

Sushi smart


A version of the smart fortwo has been much modified to meet the Japanese Kei car specifications. The width has been reduced from 1.51 metres to 1.47 metres. The roof is solid and front grill black. The smart k is available in lite white, phat red, jack black and star blue.

"The smart k accounts for a major proportion of the [smart car] sales in Japan, and 2,128 smart k cars were delivered in the first half of the year [2002]. MCC smart is the only foreign manufacturer to import such a vehicle into Japan.

The smart k complies with the requirements for so-called lightweight vehicles in Japan (Japanese: kei-jidousha), making it substantially less expensive than a conventional vehicle with regard to insurance and tax. Furthermore, in some cases the smart k is exempted from the usual requirement in Japanese towns and cities to provide proof of a parking space."

See source.



Unlike Canadians, the Japanese can buy a full range of smart vehicles: fortwo coupé, fortwo k, fortwo cabrio, crossblade, BRABUS, roadster, roadster coupé. The fortwo coupé currently retails for ¥ 1,543,500.00 which is equal to $16,781.22 CAD.

For more details see smart's Japanese site English translation.

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