After just over two months of sales in the U.S., the Smart ForTwo is moving out of dealerships at a good clip. So far sixty-seven of the planned one hundred Smart USA dealers are in operation and the company sold 1,734 cars in February. Since the first cars were delivered in mid-January, a total of 3,437 ForTwos have be turned over to US owners. While that is a pretty good pace, the real test will be what happens over the coming months. As decidedly mixed reviews come in from media sources, owner word of mouth may prove to be the deciding factor in the success of the car in this country. For such a small car mileage numbers in the mid-30s may prove to be insufficient for American buyers. On the other hand the compact footprint may prove to be a boon to urban drivers. Only time will tell.

[Source: SmartUSA]

Even though the Smart ForTwo is a great looking and popular car, there's just not a lot of places for crash impact energy to go in a vehicle this small. This is part of the reason that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, when it announced crash test results for the ForTwo on Thursday, issued some lackluster ratings and a "safety concern" footnote to report a door coming unlatched during a side crash. Overall, the 2008 ForTwo scored four stars for the driver in a front impact, three for a passenger in the same situation, five and three for resisting rolling over. These results are neither great nor amazingly bad, writes Harry Stoffer in Automotive News, and it bears repeating that the front impact scores only compare similar-sized vehicles hitting each other. Not sure how the ForTwo would handle a Escalade at 100mph.


[Source: Harry Stoffer / Automotive News]

What do you get for the young woman who - presumably - has everything? Why not a smart fortwo convertible with her name emblazoned on the side? Ecorazzi has a photo of siad smart that belongs, we think, to Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) and says "Miley - girls night out" on the side. Of course, Miley is only 15 (she'll turn 16 in November) so for the next while we expect her to be sitting shotgun or driving around a pale-looking Billy Ray. Whoever took the photo (obviously from the seat of a passing car), we applaud the framing with the high gas prices in the background. Cruising around in a 40 mpg smart is, well, pretty smart.

[Source: Ecorazzi]

The smart limited two, unveiled in Geneva.

It's a good time to be selling Smarts in the U.S. The North American distributor, Roger Penske, told Automotive News (subs req'd) that he thinks that, on top of the 25,000 Smarts he's getting from Europe this year, he could "easily" sell 15,000 more. The trouble is that the Smart factory simply can't produce more than they currently are, so those 15,000 extra sales will either be delayed or lost to other brands. Penske said he's waiting to hear from Mercedes about possibly making more Smarts for the U.S.

Since the refundable deposit for ordering a Smart online is/was only $99, Smart USA said that as many as 25 percent of pre-orders are being canceled in some markets. Still, Smart USA's president told AN that the overall number of cancellations is "low," and the cars that were once destined for a particular buyer are not sitting on the lots because of high demand.

In the grand scheme of of the American car market, 25,000 Smarts - or even 40,000 - is not a lot. Still, if anyone was curious whether Americans could embrace a truly small vehicle or not, I think we have the answer.


[Source: Diana Kurylko and Richard Truett / Automotive News (subs req'd)]

Back in January, ABG reader Randy dropped us a note to let us know that he and his wife had received a letter from a Smart dealer that the car they had reserved would soon be ready for delivery. Well the Oklahoma City couple picked up their new car this week and Randy sent us another message:

We just took delivery today. And we are very impressed. I live in Oklahoma City and the Smart dealer is located in Tulsa, which is about 100 miles. The drive back home was perfect. The car had no problem with keeping up with traffic, which on the turnpike speeds average 75-80mph. 80mph was not an issue to keep up. When we originally test drove the car during the tour, the cars seemed a little bouncy and jerky. Our cabrio is very solid and smooth. Top up on the highway, there is very little wind noise. Top down is stupendous. And the premium sound system ROCKS!!! All in all we couldn't be happier with our purchase. And for the days driving, after taking it on a tour to friends to show off, we averaged 44 mpg. WOOHOO! One other thing to point out, the attention the car gets is insane. I felt like I was in a parade on the highway. I have never had so many people waving and smiling and pointing. Some even snapped pictures.

Sounds like Randy is pretty pleased so far. If you've got your own story, the comments are open.

[Source: Randy in Oklahoma City]

Click image for photo gallery

We got a tip from Autoblog reader Cary about the delightful possibility of a Smart ForTwo in the U.S. with Mercedes' Bluetec technology. Cary writes:

Yesterday, I spotted a ForTwo on the 5 freeway south in Orange County, intrigued by the fact that they have already been released and this one was still wrapped in the typical camo vinyl, I decided to follow it. After following the car back to Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel, I got to speak to the driver. And what I heard was music to my ears. The ForTwo will come in Blu - Blutec that is, according to a MBUSA R&D employee I spoke to at MB Laguna Niguel yesterday. I'll quote him on this, "Expect between 55 and 65 mpg around town and 70+mpg on the highway." He said they were testing with low rolling resistance tires. Best part of all, it will exceed Tier II BIN 5 standards without the use of urea injection found in the upcoming Bluetec diesel SUVs by MB. He was also able to tell me the engine has been developed in-house.

Well, we needed to get some clarification on this Smart Bluetec rumor, so we called Smart's communication director Ken Kettenbeil (we last spoke to him at the Detroit Auto Show in 2007 talking about the availability of the ForTwo in America) for some more info and we got a big wet blanket. Kettenbeil said that there is nothing official to say on a Bluetec Smart ForTwo. He did say that Mercedes-Benz is looking at electric, micro-hybrid and diesel technology for Smart ForTwos in the U.S., but we'll just have to wait to see if these possibilities move beyond the looking stage. Thanks for the tip, Cary!


[Source: Smart]

Last week in Frankfurt, Mercedes-Benz showed off a flurry of alternative fuel and drive vehicles of various types. Of the eighteen vehicles shown, seventeen of them will be in production by 2010 with at least a half dozen of those coming to the US market. The only one that won't hit the streets by the end of the decade is the HCCI engined F700 concept. All the rest of the assorted micro, mild and Two-Mode hybrids and diesels will be on sale by then.

The Two-Mode hybrid ML450 and mild hybrid S400 will be on the market in the US in 2009. In addition, fifty-state legal ML, GL and R-Class models with BlueTec diesels will be available here in 2008. The next generation of the E-Class with the Tier 2 Bin 5 diesel will be here by 2010. Mercedes will also be evaluating US sales of the micro-hybrid Smart ForTwo and US Smart distributor Roger Penske would also like to see the electric version of the Smart brought over. Smart currently has a 100-car test fleet of battery-powered Smarts running in Britain.

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