First U.S. site for Smart car2go concept is Austin, Texas

It might be the oil-rich state, but Texas will be the first U.S. home for Daimler’s innovative, environmentally aware car2go pay-as-you-go city-transport concept.
The concept has just moved from the pilot phase to a full-time business for the 120,000 residents of Ulm, Germany, and Daimler has announced that 200 car2go Smart Fortwos will flood downtown Austin this fall.
This isn’t the first car-sharing scheme in the United States, but it might be one of the simplest, and it’s backed by the auto industry’s oldest name. Daimler’s idea for car2go is to make driving through traffic-clogged cities as cheap as talking on a mobile phone.
Loosely based on Paris’s noted Velib city bicycle system, Ulm dwellers or visitors can drive away in any car2go vehicle for 19 cents a minute by showing the car a chip attached to their licenses.

“The idea is that when you want a car, you just take it, and when you’ve finished with the car, you just leave it,” car2go project manager Robert Henrich, said. He said it’s a free-flowing system and you never have to return the car to where you picked it up. “So if you want to cross the city, you just take a car, cross the city and then leave it.”

Source: AutoWeek - Read full article here.

Chloride, Arizona

While on holiday in Las Vegas, Nevada we kept our eyes open for smart cars. During our five day tour, the only one we spotted was this 2008 in the ghost town of Chloride, Arizona. Photo RLT.

Smart’s ForTwo is ready to grow!

Extra doors and seats make favourite an A1 competitor
Near-identical Smart tries to triumph where ForFour failed.

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.

Read full article here.

Business smarts 32: Fat Flyers

Fat Flyers offer a comprehensive design and printing service, specializing in promotional flyer design & print. Whether you require a flyer to promote your club night or small business, Fat Flyers will provide a professional, efficient and friendly service on time every time.

Photo taken in Lewes, East Sussex, England by RLT.