Smart Automobile is a car manufacturing company from Germany which manufactures and sells Smart Fortwo, a two-door city car marketed in 46 countries worldwide. Smart cars are famous for being compact and small, having a brand logo with the letter “C” which means “compact” and a shape of an arrow which means “forward thinking”.
Related Other German Car Make Volkswagen
This concept of subcompact cars started way back 1980. Now, Smart models are available in North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and in Europe with three major models – internal combustion, sport, and electric.
The Smart cars lineup is actually an idea of Swatch watches CEO Nicolas Hayek. He thought of developing a new kind of car which uses the same manufacturing techniques and features as with the Swatch watches. Back then, Hayek firmly believed that the current automobile industry had snubbed small city cars and their potential appeal to the market.
Image source: wikipedia.org
Concurrent with the trend in electric vehicles, Smart first released their all-electric Fortwo in 2007. They followed that with a second-generation release with a number of 2,000 units in 2009 and were sold in 18 countries. Their electric vehicles are powered by a lithium-ion battery manufactured by Tesla Motors with an initial capacity of 14kWh.
A fully charged electric Smart Fortwo could reach up to 135 kilometers or 84 miles.
The third generation was released in the second quarter of 2011 during the Frankfurt Motor Show and was mass-produced to reach over 30 countries around the world. The third generation has more power in its electric motor and a better lithium-ion battery that will increase the range of the Smart Fortwo to about 140 kilometers. A quick charge to the battery is also available in this latest model.
These are some of the most popular Smart car models in history:
- 1993 Eco Sprinter and Eco Speedster Concepts
- Brabus Tailor Made
- Smart Brabus
- Smart City Coupe and City Cabrio
- Smart Edition #1
- Smart Forfour
- Smart Fortwo Cabrio
- Smart Fortwo Cabriolet
- Smart Fortwo ED
- Smart Fortwo Electric Drive
- Smart Fortwo
- Smart K
- Smart Roadster
- Smart Special Models
- Smart Crossblade
Photos of Smart’s different types of cars
(Photos Courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/ and smart.com)
Image Source https://en.wikipedia.org/