When it comes to a car with brains, nothing’s more brilliant than the smart car. Based out of Germany and produced in France, the smart car (small “s” intentional) is developed by Daimler AG and was first introduced through Mercedes-Benz about a decade ago.
The smart car is spelled in lower case because the word “smart” is meant to be an acronym for “Swatch Mercedes ART.” Swatch is the Swiss watch company who deviated a little bit from making perfect-sync watches to developing a small, parking-friendly automobile.
In 1994, Swatch collaborated with Daimler AG to bring their project, then named the Swatchmobile, into production at a custom-built factory named “Smartville” in Hambach, France. Since 1994, the parent company, Mercedes-Benz, has sold over 1 million smart cars in Europe. In 2008, Mercedes-Benz finally brought the smart car to America.
The idea behind the smart car was to produce a vehicle that would be easy to park and slip into small spaces. At average dimensions of around 98.4 inches in length, it is possible to park two or three smart cars in a normally-sized parking space. Upon release in America, the car expanded in length to around 108 inches. It is approximately 62 inches wide and 61 inches tall.
Whether or not the smart car is ready for North American markets remains to be seen in the long term, but the small car is proving increasingly popular in cities and areas in which there tends to be a considerable amount of trouble market. This Mercedes-Benz development has also proven to give the company a good amount of press stateside, as questions and concerns about the car’s safety have given way to curiosity about what the smart car can do and how it can change the face of how Americans drive, park, and operate their automobiles.
As far as those safety concerns, the smart car uses the tridion safety cell to achieve a four-star crash rating in the United States. The use of reinforced steel also keeps occupants protected in the event of an accident. The smart car redistributes crash energy, too, making the doors completely operational in the event of an accident.
Smart enough?
