Smart cars

2011 Smart Forspeed Concept

Understand that our expectations for the Smart Forspeed Concept were reasonably high as far as our initial reaction of what the car looks like. But seeing as this is nothing more than just a concept and any hope of a production version has been essentially squashed, we’re a little disappointed that we won’t be seeing this vehicle on the road in the foreseeable future.

Having said that, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that the folks from Smart did a remarkably impressive job with the concept. Just revealed at the Geneva Motor Show, the Forspeed Concept’s design is far more aggressive than anything Smart has ever produced, which is a testament to the revelation that these guys are far more artistic than we gave them credit for.

Designated as Smart’s official ‘speedster’ - although we’re going to use that word a little loosely because of its ’conservative’ powertrain - the Forspeed definitely looks like it can throwdown with the best of ‘em, even if it comes in that small frame.

UPDATE 03/01/11: Check out the updated photo gallery of the Smart Forspeed Concept.

2011 Brabus Smart Ultimate

After previewing two of their Geneva-bound works – the Brabus Rocket and the Brabus SLS – the German tuning company has released the first official photo of their third and final Geneva offering: the Brabus Smart ForTwo Ultimate.

For a company that specializes on upgrading Mercedes and Maybach vehicles, Brabus doesn’t always get to work on Smart-branded vehicles. As a matter of fact, the Smart ForTwo Ultimate will only be the second Smart vehicle to be tuned by Brabus, after the Ultimate 101 back in 2006.

Details behind the overall package are still being withheld, but unlike the two other vehicles headed for Geneva, Brabus decided to release a photo of the Ultimate Smart ForTwo in all its glory. Looking at the photo, you’ll notice that the car comes in the same matte gray body finish as the two other vehicles. There also appears to be some hints of carbon fiber on the car as well as some fancy – at least as far as Smart standards are concerned – set of Brabus machined-alloy wheels on the car. While they have yet to release information on what’s under the car’s hood, we’ve been informed that the Ultimate Smart ForTwo will also come with a modified engine.

The Smart Ultimate, together with the Brabus Rocket and the Brabus SLS, will make their debut at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. Be sure to check back with us to find out more information on this decked-out Smart ForTwo when details become available.

2011 Smart Fortwo customization program

Smart is offering its customers the possibility to customize their Fortwo in 33 exclusive designs, that include: "Flying Flag", "Modern Flame", "Double Sport Stripe", "Graffiti", "Rainbow" and "Butterflies". The new program is called "smart foryou customization programme" and includes unique graphics that can be applied to the body panels and tridion safety cell.

Customers will be able to purchase individual elements, packages that include designs for front, side and rear body panels, and full body wraps. prices will range from £50 and will go up to £1900 for a full ‘Carbon smart’ body wrap.

Gary Savage, Managing Director Mercedes-Benz Cars UK, said: ”Many owners see their smart as an extension of their personality and smart foryou allows them to show this to full effect. The added style of smart foryou optimizes owners’ enjoyment of their cars but for business users it can be an invaluable addition to their company, providing a very cost-effective means of advertising that is both mobile and very eye catching."

2011 Smart ForTwo NightOrange

It seems that the new generation Smart ForTwo has received lots of special editions lately. Just the other day we spoke of the new ForTwo Lightshine Edition, and now Smart has revealed the NightOrange edition. Painted in a combination of bright orange and elegant black, the new NightOrange edition will go on sale starting February 2011 in two petrol versions and a diesel version. Both coupe and cabrio versions will be available.

For the exterior, the new NightOrange edition combines an exclusive orange metallic finish with black insertions on the headlamp trims, black mirror caps, and roof. The same black and orange theme continues on the interior with a mix of leather and fabric seats in black with an orange sport stripe in the middle, black door trims, a black instrument panel, and a black 3-spoke sports steering wheel with steering wheel gearshift and gear knob.

The ForTwo NightOrange Edition will give the customer a choice of three engines, including a 71 HP petrol engine with micro hybrid drive technology, an 84 HP petrol engine, and a 54 HP diesel engine equipped with a diesel particulate filter.

2011 Smart ForTwo Lightshine Edition

Smart UK is celebrating the beginning of the new year with a new special edition Fortwo. Called the ForTwo Lightshine Edition, this new model emphasizes the enhancements to the latest new generation smart Fortwo and reaffirms the cdi model as the CO2 world champion for combustion engine vehicles.

"The smart ForTwo Lightshine Edition epitomizes the values of smart, the model offering an unrivaled fusion of eye-catching style, comfort and environmental compatibility in a fun-to-own and drive package," said Gary Savage, Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

"Based on the cdi, the ForTwo Lightshine Edition demonstrates how the innovative brand continually evolves to meet customers’ requirements, the special edition being the perfect choice for today’s car buyers who wish to drive something that is both unique and entertaining but who do not wish to compromise on economy, practicality and affordability."

Hit the jump to read more about the 2011 Smart ForTwo Lightshine Edition.

SMART files patent on new Roadster Concept design

We’re not quite sure what to make of this, but from what we’ve gathered, Mercedes has filed patent drawings of what looks to be the next generation Smart Roadster. The drawings were filed on November 16, 2010 and are now subject for trademark approval.

Now, it’s been almost a decade since Smart came out with a roadster version of their ForTwo compact cars – anybody remember the Crossblade? – so this could very well be the supposed successor to that vehicle. On the flip side, seeing as Smart isn’t exactly selling like hotcakes these days, this rendering of the new Smart Roadster could very well be just a concept design that will be unveiled in order to gauge interest on the car.

We’re not trying to take anything away from the design because we actually think it’s pretty good. While it does resemble the Crossblade a tad, these drawings of the new roadster appear to have a number of changes on it including a conventional set of doors, a wind deflector, and a Tridion Safery Cell that’s a Smart ForTwo staple.

Whatever Mercedes’ plans are for this car, we can at least be sure that we’re going to see a concept version of this roadster down the road. But whether that translates to a production model still remains to be seen.

2010 Smart ForTwo by Romeo Ferraris

There must be something going around because it seems as though a lot of tuners have been showing an increased interest in small cars lately. And while the Fiat 500 is the most loved model, it seems that the Smart Fortwo has also started to catch tuners attentions. Romeo Ferraris, whom you might remember from their tuning package for the Corvette Z06, is offering a kit for the Fortwo that improves both the car’s appearance and performance.

Thanks to the addition of a new sport air filter and a re-mapped ECU, the three-cylinder 1-liter engine’s output has been increased by 23 hp and 32 Nm of torque for a total of 98 hp, while the 800 cc engine version gets an additional 21 hp and 20 Nm of torque

Next to the engine upgrades, the package also includes new 17 inch, black alloy wheels, different carbon inserts, leather and Alcantara for the interior, an updated dashboard, seats, and an instrument panel.

We can’t say this package thrills us or even excites us in any way, but it’s not a bad gig for a vehicle that was lacking to begin with.

Lorinser Easybrid

Usually when it comes about tuning a model, in general you expect to see significant power upgrades and exterior and interior updates. But Lorinser will bring at the upcoming Essen Motor Show an Easybrid package based on the Smart Fortwo that adds a retrofit electric hub motor with 30 kW (41 HP) additional effective output.

Easybrid® supports the existing fuel- or diesel engines of the individual cars and renders an additional power of approximately 30 kW (about 41hp) for improved acceleration- and final speed outputs. At the same time, the consumption- and CO2-levels drop. As electric engines are very powerful and their maximum torque is reached after only one revolution, it is also possible to move these cars solely on an electric basis.

With this retrofit solution, Lorinser does not only cover all advantages of modern hybrid acceleration, but also allows the driver to choose his operational mode. Apart from the combination of both engines, he can also opt for either the sole electronic or sole combustion engine. The driver can therefore decide if he wishes to use fuel or electricity or a combination of both.

Press release after the jump.

Cadillac Aera and smart 454 WWT take top prize in the LA Design Challenge

The LA Design Challenge is one of the unquestioned highlights of the LA Auto Show with different automakers showing off their newly-designed concepts that are made based on a “theme” set by the organizers.

This year, the theme was “addressing society’s shift toward minimizing consumption of the earth’s resources by envisioning an efficient, light-weight, four passenger vehicle with a weight limit of 1,000 lbs that is both comfortable and safe, while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the styling consumers demand."

Turns out, when it came time to decide on a winner, the judges had such a hard time picking between the Cadillac Aera Concept and the Smart 454 WWT Concept that they just decided to award the top prize to the two cars.

According to the judges, picking a winner was about as hard as it has been in recent years considering the quality of work that was entered. "Deciding this year’s Design Challenge winner was a tremendously difficult decision as the quality of entries has increased throughout the years," the Design Los Angeles judges said. "This year’s winners – the Cadillac Aera and the smart 454 WWT – offer two very different visions of the 1,000 lb. Car, yet are equally as amazing. They are both very expressive of their brand; GM is art and science and smart is playful and fun."

Two winners, huh? Can’t say we saw that coming. While we did think that the Aera was a front-runner, we didn’t expect the smart 454 WWT to actually go home with equal-billing in the top step of the podium.

Press Release after the jump

2010 smart 454 Weight Watch

For what it’s worth, the Smart 454 by Weight Watch Technologies is probably the cutest yet most perplexing entry to the 2010 LA Design Challenge. The billing alone pretty much describes what to expect from the concept vehicle: “West coast fun and innovation meets German technology, design and grannies’ hand knit socks.”

Never though we’d live to see the phrases “West coast fun” and “grannies’ hand knit socks” in the same sentence. In any case, the Smart 454 by Weight Watch Technologies is smart’s official entry to the 2010 LA Design Challenge.

Keeping line with this year’s theme of envisioning an efficient, lightweight 2+2 car that takes into account the growing shift in building vehicles while minimizing consumption of the earth’s resources, the smart 454 uses a Tridion-frame chassis that’s apparently knitted out of carbon fiber by what the company is calling “Smart Granny Robots”. Go figure. Each individual part of the car uses a different material to give each piece a unique set of properties like weight and function. For the windows, fenders, and bumpers, Smart opted to use recyclable plastics while touching them up with ingrained colors. Meanwhile, the 454’s roof uses a thin, but extremely durable textile that boasts of its own different prints and weavings. Probably the work of the granny robots, we think.

The wheels of the 454 WWT are likewise made from carbon fiber with an integrated suspension and with the help of SGR technology, the wheels come equipped with some snazzy and lightweight rims.

Then there’s the matter of assembling and dissembling the car without breaking any sweat. Thanks to a modular “clip-on” construction principal, materials like the doors, the roof, the engine, and even the drive train, become extremely easy to remove or exchange, making the 454 WWT a car that can be customized for any occasion, including granny’s knitting session.

Press Release after the jump