Dork disses diesel

Some guys just don't get it. Dave Schembri of Smart USA says "...the diesel engine doesn't provide the kind of performance, I think, that would meet the expectations of the U.S. consumer."
I guess the punters will never know with this kind of short-sighted thinking. Having driven my 2005 diesel smart the length and breadth of the USA, while folk everywhere offered me hard cash to buy it, I can only conclude that he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. RLT.
Previous.

Smaaart stretches out

The smart silly season continues. Somebody has been drinking too much Red Bull?

Double-decker lunacy

Fifth Gear in the UK should apologise for trashing two smarty cars in a silly stunt!

Highbrow lowdown

U.S. News & World Report takes note of the new smart.

Smart factory flat out

Penske to sell 25,000, could unload 40,000 this year he says. Story here.

Nashville Cats

Loving our visit to the home of The Grand Old Opry and Music Row. Read about our tour on hubby's blog: Punch Buggy.

Searching for Delbert McClinton

We're going to Nashville next week - not in our smart car though, we're flying. We hope to find Delbert McClinton and his silver smart.
Currently, there is no smart car dealer in Nashville, the nearest one may be at smart center Knoxville which is 290 km (180 miles) away.

McClinton goes green, has fun with Smart Car

Hollywood has Leonardo DiCaprio to spread the gospel of green living. Here in Music City, we've got Delbert McClinton.
The Grammy-winning bluesman zips around Nashville in a fuel-sipping silver Smart Car. The car's plastic body panels are fully recyclable. Other parts of the micro car's body are made from recycled and renewable material.
The singer-songwriter loves that the Smart Car is kind to the planet and uses far less fuel than his wife's gas-chugging Toyota Sequoia.
But the deal clincher, he said, is that the teeny two-seater is fun to drive and looks sharp.
"It's never short of plenty of power," McClinton said as he whizzed down the winding roads in his Oak Hill neighborhood, pointing out the vehicle's whisper quiet, six-speed transmission. "It feels like a poor man's Porsche."
McClinton thinks he may be the first Smart Car owner in Nashville, although he's heard another one has been spotted.
Source: The Tennessean - By BONNA JOHNSON • Staff Writer • December 16, 2007
Photo by: JAE S. LEE

Smart down south

My good friends in Dixie Linda and Bruce sent me a hard copy of this article about the smart launch in North Carolina. RLT

M-B Canada can't stand up for falling down

To the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto to check out the new smart. I decide to consult the smart Canada website before departure - after all this is the first Autoshow for the new smart and the major event in the car calendar in Canada. Which of the three halls will the smart be in? There is no way of finding out about the location of the stand as there is no indication on the smart website that the show is happening at all. No email arrives to build interest.
Riding along the lakeshore we notice that M-B Canada are holding, as in years gone by, some sort of test-drive promotion opposite the exhibition grounds, which visibly includes the smart car. On the stand at the show there is no information about the promo! My dealer contact invites me to take a test drive at some unspecified time in Mississauga, when I could be driving the car right there and then on that very day. Why spend megabucks on a stand at the Autoshow and then fail to exploit the opportunity? What is the matter with this company? BTW full marks to Nissan for providing free parking at the show. RLT

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.