While some sites are busy making fun of its name (yeah, we thought of that too... and you? Does it matter? Comments are welcome), others were busy conducting interviews with Dr. Z. in an attempt to find out when we may see the smart ED in America. The answer is that it's coming, if not next year then shortly thereafter. Daimler hopes to have 1,000 electric smarts running rather silently around the world by the end of next year, and it's distinctly possible that a portion of them will be in the U.S. This is the second-generation of the smart ED, and it is now powered by a lithium ion battery pack that may or may not be supplied by Tesla Motors. The last-gen model used a sodium battery. With the new pack, the smart ED can achieve a range of up to 150 miles -- plenty of distance for the urban use the little car is likely to be subjected to.

[Source: Popular Mechanics / Photo: Inside Line]

Ironically, New York City seems to be packed with cars and yet it's probably one of the worst cities in America for them. One of the biggest hassles for people who actually choose to drive in Manhattan is finding a place to park your car when you get where you're going. Given the typical congestion in Manhattan, the Smart ForTwo is probably one of the cars best suited for that city, and it just got a bit better. SmartUSA has cut a deal for owners of its cars that gives them half-price parking at six of the biggest parking garages in Manhattan. The deal includes garages operated by Meyers Parking at Madison Square Garden, Times Square, the Javits Convention Center and the Empire State Building. The discount runs through December 31 and the SmartUSA press release is after the jump. Thanks to Yash for the tip!

[Source: SmartUSA]

A smart that's lost its top? No, the smart Crossblade! Click above for more

In our time covering the auto industry, we've heard of many, many recalls taking place. Most of them are pretty innocuous sounding. Though some could potentially lead to an accident, it seems that the situations required to make that possibility a reality are not all that likely to actually take place. Here's one, though, that really caught our collective eye. Apparently, the NHTSA has called for a recall of 43 smarts for some bad paint. No biggie, right? Wrong. It seems that the paint could let go unexpectedly, which is especially bad for the smart because there's adhesive sitting on top of it which holds on the roof and windshield. So, uh, they could fly off while driving. To quote the NHTSA, "This could cause a crash if the roof or windshield separated from the vehicle while in motion." Ya think? Worried? See your local dealer to see if your car is one of the affected.

[Source: Next Autos]

It appears that early American buyers of the Smart ForTwo are trying to make the diminutive Two-Seater into a true cult car and today's event in San Francisco is the latest example of that. Anyone who has ever scene a movie or TV show set in San Francisco has probably caught a glimpse of Lombard street. A particular one block section of the street that goes down a very steep hill is famed for its tight sequence of hair-pin turns. A group of Smart owners gathered for a meetup and photo shoot on Lombard on Sunday and managed to pack 133 of the city cars into that one block section. One of the owners involved shared some of his own pics of the event with us. See them here. Thanks to David for the tip!

[Source: SmugMug]

It's time to throw some ideas against the wall and see what sticks. Disclaimer: I have no inside knowledge to back up any of what follows. This is all pure speculation based on putting together some puzzle pieces that may or may not actually fit. Let's begin with a few things that we do know:

Daimler and Tesla Motors have some sort of deal, but we have no knowledge about the details. This news came out of an interview that Tesla Chairman Elon Musk did with Fox Business News a couple of months ago. At the time I speculated that this could be either a deal to license some battery management technology to Daimler or for the Germans to supply the Smart engine to Tesla as a range extender for the Model S. We now know that the idea of an ER-EV Model S has been discarded which brings us back to the first idea.

Recently we've heard about a couple of different Daimler projects that involve batteries. One is the ML450 hybrid. Mercedes has a contract with Cobasys to supply nickel metal hydride batteries for the ML450. However, business problems at Cobasys have led Mercedes to file suit against the company. A Mercedes spokesman told ABG that the program is still on track but did not comment on whether a sourcing change would be made. Continue reading this twisted little tale after the jump.

As the video for Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got" begins, the rap star is seated in the passenger seat of a Ferrari, driven by NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., as Indy racer Danica Patrick pulls up alongside in a ultra-rare and ultra-fast Pagani Zonda. From there, things move rather predictably as the trio race through the the picturesque town of Monaco. Nice, right? Sure, but what does that have to do with being green? Nada, zip, zilch, of course. Another rapper, though, has taken on the same theme in a recent video of his own. Instead of featuring exotic, gas-guzzling exotic cars in a far-out locale, though, Redman's video (language warning!) for the song entitled "Run My Block," the rapper chooses something a bit less thirsty: a smart fortwo. We'd imagine that the fuel costs associated with the making of this video was a bit less than Jay-Z's. Thanks for the tip, Elliot!

[Source: My Ride, Youtube]

Click above to enlarge the Cannonball Run-winning smart fortwo

Though the original Cannonball Run, organized in the early seventies by then Car and Driver editors Brock Yates and Steve Smith, is no longer officially run in the United States where it started, a version of the event still takes place in Europe. Amazingly, despite all of the high-power entrants into this year's race, a smart fortwo managed to take the victory after traveling some 3,000 miles. The machine was already a few years old and had been modified with a revised engine map from BRABUS along with some basic suspension goodies. Other than that, the little two-seater was basically stock. According to its drivers, David Ward and Adrian Hull, from Essex in the U.K., they were able to zoom past many of the faster moving cars due to their relatively good fuel mileage. In fact, over the course of the trip, the duo managed to average around 35 miles per gallon. Read about their trip on their blog here. Proceeds for the victory went to the NSPCC.

[Source: smart]

Looks like the decision by Penske Automotive to be the Official U.S. Distributor for the smart brand of cars was... uh, smart. According to reports, smart new car sales are one particular bright spot for the company, which saw sales from other outlets drop somewhat. Used cars also did rather well for the company's range of dealerships across America. Penske Automotive Group Chairman Roger Penske says, "With the rise in gas prices, we saw a rapid shift in consumer demand to more fuel efficient vehicles." For the second quarter which just ended in June, 7,731 smart fortwos were delivered, raising the year-to-date wholesale delivery total to 12,646 vehicles.

Sales for the little car are expected to remain strong. Amazingly, some 20,000 advance orders were placed in the months of May and June alone, prompting Penske Automotive to raise the sales outlook from around 20K to between 24,000 and 27,500 units in 2008, smart's first year on the U.S. market.

[Source: AFP via Google News]

Starting this October Smart is making its micro-hybrid-drive system standard equipment on the ForTwo in Europe with the 61hp and 71hp gas engines. The micro-hybrid system is just an automated start-stop system and doesn't include and regenerative braking capability. The system has already been available as an option in the more powerful engine since 2007. Smart claims the auto start-stop reduces combined fuel consumption on the NEDC test by eight percent. Those who drive mainly in dense urban areas (which is likely most Smart drivers) can see savings of up to 20 percent. The setup shuts off the engine whenever the driver is braking and the vehicle speed drops below 5mph and automatically fires it up when the brake is released.

Diesel powered Smarts also get an upgraded closed particulate filter for 2009 that removes even more of the soot from the exhaust. All Smarts are also getting interior upgrades including new gauges for the new model year. We'll probably see the interior changes on US bound Smarts but there has been no word on whether we will see the powertrain upgrades. The Daimler press release is after the jump.

[Source: Smart]

click the Toyota iQ for high res gallery

With the rather healthy sales numbers currently being posted by the smart fortwo in the U.S., Toyota seems very excited about the prospect of offering its iQ here. Still, the tiny car will be launched first in Japan, followed by Europe at the beginning of next year. High gas prices seem likely to sway Toyota to consider the diminutive machine for America, though. According to chief engineer Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota's iQ could be a bit higher than smart's, as the Japanese model will feature two extra seats and should post better fuel economy numbers. Like the smart, though, it will be priced more in line with the current crop of small cars and is not meant to undercut them in price. Instead, the iQ is to offer a premium driving experience.

In Europe, the iQ will be offered with a 1.4 liter diesel engine. If the model ever makes it over here, count on either the 1.0 or 1.3 liter gasoline engine underhood. If that does indeed happen, will we ever get tired of making ridiculous puns about the iQ and smart names? Nah.


[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

When the smart brand was initially launched in Europe, the vehicles were featured in some very unusual manners. For instance, towers of smart fortwo cars were placed inside glass containers, which looked sort of like the spinning display stands for watches. These displays made sense considering the idea for the vehicle originally came from Swatch. Now, though, it looks as if smart's parents, Daimler, have continued the innovative marketing approach with a smart vending machine. As cool as it would be if the vending machine actually offered little cars, it instead dispenses brochures for both the smart coupe and cabriolet.

From what we can tell, this vending machine is from Japan, which isn't surprising considering how gadget obsessed young people in that country tend to be. We have seen something similar to this in American Mini dealerships, though those displays don't actually feature a real car inside the glass container.

[Source: PlaySmart.jp via Gizmodo]

Calling a very small car a "roller skate" has been an ongoing joke for many years. We've been hearing it since the days of the Nash Metropolitan, through the Geo Metro years, right on up through today, many times in reference to the smart fortwo. Judging from the photograph above, though, somebody has gone and taken the joke to a whole new level. Try as we might, we just can't find any additional information on the internet regarding these four-wheelers, but we can tell that these roller skates are meant for kids judging on the size. That's all well and good, considering that we don't know of too many grown adults who would want to spend very much time rolling around on these bad boys.

As a side note, this is not the first pair of footwear we've seen which was obviously inspired to an automobile. Click here for visual proof.

[Source: Carscoop]

We're not going to comment regarding the capabilities of Best Buy's Geek Squad, the team of technology-savvy guys and gals working at the big box retailer which makes house calls to fix computers and the like. We will say, though, that their choice for the geeky-team-vehicle of a black and white Volkswagen Beetle (the new one, not its elder) seems fitting. Here's a topic or conversation, though: Could they find a geekier vehicle? Well, some people seem to think of the smart fortwo is a chick car, though that theory seems to have been mostly debunked. Would the smart be a better fit for the Nerd-Herd Geek Squad? If you think so, perhaps you'll be happy to find that the diminutive smart is actually in use as the nerd-mobile of choice in the UK. I don't know about you, but if I were a geek (watch it, buddy!), I'd rather be seen in a smart. Just saying...

[Sources: Best Buy U.K. and The Scooter Scoop]

One of the biggest questions to consider with tiny cars like the Smart ForTwo is what happens in a crash? The Smart is only eight and a half feet long. The first generation Smart has been tested numerous times over the years and always done reasonably well especially in comparison to other really small and even some considerably larger cars. When the feds tested it recently for the official test it did fairly well with scores of 4 and 3 stars for driver and passenger frontal protection. There was concern about the driver door opening during the test.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does its own testing on cars and trucks with different tests from the government standard. IIHS does a 40mph offset frontal test as well as a 31mph side impact test and a 20 mph rear impact test. The Smart scored the maximum good rating on both the front and side tests and an acceptable on the rear impact test. Considering the almost complete absence of crush zones on the Smart, it's always amazing to see how well the structure along with the belts and air bags protect the occupants. The full report is available here. The Video is after the jump.

[Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety]

Smart has been field testing a fleet of battery-powered ForTwo ED models in Britain for several months. Now Auto Motor und Sport out of Germany is reporting that an updated version could begin testing in the U.S. as early as 2009. The current model uses high temperature sodium-nickel-chloride Zebra batteries. The new generation will switch to a lithium ion pack and could be tested in the Los Angeles area. There are no specs available at the moment, but Smart's Anders Jensen has said that if the testing provides positive results the car could move to production quickly. Given the relatively disappointing fuel economy of the gasoline-powered version of the ForTwo, an electric drive model could prove quite popular. The layout of the Smart makes it amenable to alternative drivetrains, with a battery pack able to slide under the double floor and an electric motor easily replacing the internal combustion engine.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]