Nice work, if you can get it.

Hubby, see on the right leaning into picture with camera in hand, is in Florida blogging for friend Matthew Marsh who's driving the #56 Ferrari 430 at the Rolex 24 Hours in Daytona this weekend.
Read RLT's posts and more about Matthew, who lives in Hong Kong here: www.matthewmarsh.net .

The original smart car

Nash Metropolitan one of first compacts built
Robert K. Rooney, for the Calgary Herald.
Growing up in Cour d'Alene, Idaho, Joe Wachsmuth owned a couple of Camaros and dreamed of the day he would own a Corvette. Today, Wachsmuth lives in Calgary and is often found at show and shines with his two-seater collector car.
Wachsmuth's ride isn't a 'Vette, however. It's a 1956 Nash Metropolitan.Sometimes life is funny like that. The first Metropolitan to make much of an impression on Wachsmuth was one owned by his in-laws in Dawson Creek, B.C. Driven by his wife, Carol, during her high school years, the little Nash was no longer used regularly. In fact, "it was sitting in their driveway rusting out," Wachsmuth recalls.
No doubt influenced by their daughter's history with the car and their son-in-law's interest, Carol's parents made the couple a gift of the car on their ninth wedding anniversary in 1985.
Read full story here.
Photo by RLT

Tata says Hello

Tata Motors unveils the People's Car
The People’s Car, designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy.
Yet with a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, with adequate ground clearance, it can effortlessly manoeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas. Its mono-volume design, with wheels at the corners and the powertrain at the rear, enables it to uniquely combine both space and manoeuvrability, which will set a new benchmark among small cars.
The People’s Car has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 PS, multi point fuel injection petrol engine. This is the first time that a two-cylinder gasoline engine is being used in a car with single balancer shaft. The lean design strategy has helped minimise weight, which helps maximise performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. Performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.
Read more here.

42nd Street smarts

42 smart cars take Manhattan end to end. The Christian Science Monitor has the story here.

Smart Fortwo: Sleigh for today

Would Santa swap his traditional vehicle for a Smart Fortwo? Only if he wanted to miss his midnight deadline...
By Michael Booth, The Independent, Published: 23 December 2007
Specifications: Would suit:Elves, Price:£8,450, Performance: 92mph, 0-60 in 13.2 secs, Combined fuel consumption: 57.7 mpg
Ho, ho, ho! Father Christmas here. What? You didn't think I still bothered with all that reindeer and sleigh stuff, did you? No, ever since the animal-rights people picketed my Lapland hideaway I've been looking for alternative transport, and when Mrs Christmas and I...
Oh, sod it. I was going to do this entire piece as Santa. You'd have laughed like drains and called all your friends to go and buy a copy, I'm sure, but there is actually far too much I want to tell you about the new Smart Fortwo,so I'll spare you.
You will remember that the original Smart City Coupé was hopelessly flawed: a brave and original concept ruined by a jackhammer ride and the most awful automatic- gear change. I recall one particularly virile, young, whip-sharp automotive wit compared the way it changed gear to a "frog on an escalator". Each shift was so jerky it is a wonder Mercedes wasn't bankrupted by whiplash claims. It also accelerated at the speed your toenails grow, turning motorways into a bit of a hair-whitening experience.
Read full story here.

Closer to home....

In August of 2006 a 50 kW Faired Wind turbine began operation at the Maple Honda dealership at 89 Auto Vaughn Drive, Vaughan, Ontario. It was subsequently redesigned, to improve both efficiency and appearance, by Indigo Wind Energy Systems.
Indigo are currently working on a wind turbine for Jackson's Toyota in Barrie, Ontario.
View source.
With thanks to an anonymous tipster.

Car firm using wind for power

By Steve Larner

One of just half a dozen vertical axis wind turbines in the country has been installed at Mercedes- Benz UK in Milton Keynes. The 20 metre tall turbine is specially designed for urban spaces with its unique helical design and carbon fibre blades.
The electricity generated in one year will be enough to power an electric smart car for 30,000 miles – that translates into the same amount of electricity to power two average-size homes or boil water to make 50,000 cups of tea.
At its base will be three charging points for the electric smart or other electric vehicles.
Wilfried Steffen, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz UK, said the company was taking the lead by installing the energy saving technology.
"We hope to inspire other local companies to do whatever they can to reduce their carbon footprint," he said.
Read full article here.

Canadian prices for '08 smart

Starting from $14,990 MSRP for a new 2008 smart fortwo pure coupé. (Does not include taxes, freight, PDI and administration charges.)
Go here.
Not sure what tactical_loyalty in the URL means? M-B marketing speak leaking out?

Electric smart from NASCAR country

An electric smart from Hybrid Technologies in Mooresville, North Carolina is the prize in a contest at Sam's Club.

Smart 2008 launch

To the Steam Whistle Brewing Co in Toronto for the launch of the smart fortwo 2008. A noisy party with free food and booze - an odd mixture of M-B suits, "beautiful people" and smart car customers. The loud recorded music and soul band "God made me Funky" made it difficult to converse with our smart car chums. The cars were dressed in cheap Herbie-style go-faster stripes, already cracking and peeling, a Teutonic attempt at cool. The lack of a diesel option was a turn-off although a hybrid and a diesel may be offered in Canada in some distant future.
Smart announces keen pricing for USA: The range is from $11,590 for a basic Pure to $16,590 for a Cabriolet with plenty of add-ons on offer. Here also is some ill-considered BS from US auto journalists who don't get the smart car at all. These bozos who criticise the smart for only having two seats are the same guys that drool over Corvettes and Porsches, mostly because they want to suck up to the companies making the most impractical two-seat cars on earth. They should look at the appeal of the smart in Canada, namely to empty nesters looking for both fun and practicality.
Meanwhile the court case between Daimler and ZAP in California rumbles on. RLT

Brown Goes Green

UPS to Use ZAP Electric Car and Truck Fleet for Deliveries
PETALUMA, CA -- (November 13, 2007) -- It will be a green holiday this season for United Parcel Service (UPS), who rolled out a small parcel delivery service this week in Northern California using 42 electric cars and trucks from ZAP (OTCBB: ZAAP).
UPS rolled out an electric car and truck fleet from ZAP this week to help with small parcel deliveries in dense urban communities. The move was made to reduce fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions.
The UPS branch in Petaluma, California has leased an initial fleet of 42 ZAP Xebra® electric city cars and trucks for their small parcel deliveries. This is the first time that UPS has used electric city-speed vehicles for this purpose.
Small parcel deliveries are becoming more challenging for the trademark big, brown UPS delivery vans, which is why UPS is using the electric city cars and trucks to handle small parcel deliveries. The ZAP vehicles lessen fuel consumption and reduce automotive emissions produced by current delivery vehicles. Drivers will be monitoring their electrical usage to carefully analyze cost-savings and emissions reductions.
Read full story here.

Haslem test drives the SmartCar

BY NICHOLAS SPANGLER
The Smart Fortwo is just eight feet 10 inches long but is pretty roomy, as sub-subcompact cars go. How, you ask, will it fare in the crucial professional basketball-playing segment of the American market?
Focus-group testing was performed the other day, after practice, on Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem. Haslem, who is six-foot-eight and weighs 235 pounds, usually drives a Cadillac Escalade or a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, both about 17 feet long, with specially extended seats.
This would seem to be no problem at all, since some weeks ago the Smart Car president told The New Yorker a six-foot-eight guy had fit ''beautifully'' -- as did ''a guy who weighed more than 500 pounds,'' but probably not at the same time.
Read more and see the video here.

Hayek angles actor Clooney for energy venture

Swatch chairman Nicolas G. Hayek says Hollywood star George Clooney will sit on the board of a new company that is to develop clean energy systems in Switzerland.
Hayek, hailed as the saviour of the Swiss watch industry in the 1980s and a driving force behind the Smart car, added that Switzerland could become the world leader in renewable energies.
In an interview in Saturday's Berner Zeitung newspaper, Hayek said that the headquarters of the new holding company – yet to be named - would be in Biel, the Bernese town where the Swatch Group has its headquarters.The tireless 79-year-old announced in August that his Swatch Group - the world leader in the watchmaking industry – and Swiss power company Groupe E would join forces to develop and produce clean, renewable energy systems. The aim is to provide people with electricity for both residential and transport purposes, offering the automobile industry know-how in "clean power" engines.Read more here.

Mini Cooper killer? Audi A1 Metroproject Quattro Tokyo show concept

By Rory Jurnecka - When Audi said it wanted a car to do battle with the Mini Cooper in the subcompact category, we got excited. Word on the street was that an A1 entry-level model would be built and entered in the low-to-mid $20,000 segment in the U.S., offering a real alternative for enthusiasts looking for a small, sporty Audi that's also easy on the bank account. When we heard this car might be coming to Tokyo later this month, we couldn't wait to see it.
Now, ahead of Tokyo, the wait is over. Images and details of Audi's newest concept are out. Labeled the Audi A1 Metroproject Quattro concept, the vehicle is a three-door, four-seat hatch with an outwardly aggressive attitude and stance. Audi's bold, deep front grille is present along with glaring, narrow-eyed headlamps and deep lower air intakes. Aluminum accent trim adorns the pillars and roofline of the car and the coupe-like profile is neat and tidy. At the rear, two largish exhaust tips slot through the rear valance and a subtle roof spoiler is fitted.
Read full article here.

Fiat, Daimler launch plagiarism complaints vs Chinese carmakers - report

BERLIN Thomson Financial - Fiat and Daimler have lodged plagiarism complaints against Chinese carmakers before Chinese and European courts, according to a report in Automotive News Europe magazine.
German carmaker Daimler has launched legal proceedings to block the sale of the Noble (nyse: NE - news - people ), manufactured by the Shuanghuan group, according to the magazine.
The Nobel is very reminiscent of Daimler's Smart Fortwo. The Shuanghuan group decided not to show the car in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the world's biggest car show, because Daimler threatened to lodge a complaint.
Italian manufacturer Fiat (nyse: FIA - news - people ) has has lodged complaints in Italy and China to prevent the sale of Great Wall Motors group's Peri, which could be mistaken for its Panda, reported Automotive News Europe.
'We are waiting for the first announcements in China in December and in Turin for Europe towards the end of January,' Fiat legal advisor Monica Norgi told the magazine.
Great Wall Motor's Italian importer, Eurasia Motors, has delayed the introduction of the Peri until a decision has been made.

View source.

Smarten up your act

Small, fuel-efficient vehicles are the way of the future for car travel.
Rock stars performing at the recent Live Earth concerts got to the international stadiums in Smart cars (except for one Wolfmother member who reportedly caught the train).
Some of the giants of the music industry said no to limousines and yes to car-pooling in the pint-sized fuel-efficient vehicles that have among the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of any car on the road.
“The environment, carbon emissions and global warming are becoming bigger and bigger issues,” says Zac Loo, head of Smart cars in Australia, which is part of DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes Benz division.
“Smart cars are the cars of the future. They tie in with people’s response to their carbon footprint. More and more people are trying to reduce it.
“CityLink has anecdotal evidence which shows that most people have one person in their car most of the time, so why do you need four seats in your car if 90 per cent of the time you use only one?
Read full article here.

Rethinking Transportation

Friday, October 12, 2007 BY ISOLDE RAFTERY, Columbian staff writer
Mike Briggs and T.J. Prendergast are Clark County kids, pickup truck drivers who spend between a quarter and a half of their money on driving.
Not that they have a choice: Both are students at Washington State University Vancouver but live out in the county. So they fork over $240 to $290 in parking a year, and another $160 a month on gas and insurance.
They earned most of their keep last summer, all the while leafing through "Asphalt Nation," a book about America's dependence on highways and driving. They shrug their shoulders when it comes to what they could do - taking the bus is out of the question, they said, and would take hours compared to the 10-minute drive from home.
"If you live in Portland or Vancouver or Seattle, there are systems for getting around," Prendergast said. "Even 10 miles out, there are buses, but it's not the greatest. You have to go the opposite direction to get to where you need."
WSUV's freshman class was assigned "Asphalt Nation," by Jane Kay Holtz, before starting school this year. The book is part of WSUV's emphasis on rethinking ways to commute in the name of a greener Earth.
Read full story here.

2007 Tokyo Auto Show Preview: Mazda Taiki

HIROSHIMA, Japan — The Mazda Taiki is so, well, Japanese. What other concept vehicle in recent memory has been inspired by koinobori— literally, "climbing carp streamers"? The latest, and perhaps wildest, Mazda concept vehicle yet will be formally unveiled in late October at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show. Ford's Japanese subsidiary says it "reflects one possible direction for a future generation of Mazda sports cars aimed at helping create a sustainable society." The fourth and latest iteration in the company's ongoing Nagare design series, the Taiki borrows its name from the Japanese word for "atmosphere." The design intent was to create the visual impression of air flowing through a tube. The two-seater concept is a stretched coupe on a front-engine/rear-drive chassis configuration, with short overhangs and an all-glass canopy. Power is supplied by a next-generation rotary engine.

What this means to you: As if the "carp streamers" theme weren't enough to pique your Western curiosity, Mazda also claims the Taiki's design was inspired by hagorom — "the flowing robes that enable a celestial maiden to fly in Japanese legend."

View source and more pictures.

Some days you get the bear

Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you. To the smart Mississauga annual meet at Hilton Falls - the usual affable affair of some fifty smart car owners run by our favourite salesmen Justin and Ed. Turns out it was something of a wake for the diesel smart. Some agile punters had snapped up a diesel version before they were all gone.

For now we are on hiatus until early '08 when it is the new gas engined car or nothing. The US market is calling the shots from now on. They are getting the new model ahead of Canada and dictating the marketing approach. Existing Canadian customers were lamenting the end of the diesel era but it seems the smart pioneers no longer count for much.

Marketing folk are always making incomprehensible decisions. Ford have just dropped the Focus wagon, for example. Why do they mess with a winning formula? Why do they give their existing customers a reason to switch? RLT

Business smarts 26: The Wee Scottish Shop

Angie Evans with her Wee Scottish Shop smartcar with tartan tridion. Located in the New Fergus Marketplace, 105 Queen St. W. Unit #7, the Wee Scottish Shop is open Saturday to Thursday from 10 to 5 and Fridays from 10 to 8. They stock all manner of Scottish goods from custom kilts to imported chocolates and yes they have haggis.
See their website for more - http://www.theweescottishshop.com/default.aspx