http://www.smartusa.com/
The only way they will sucessfully sell this is if they can show a film of the thing being impacted by H2s and Escalades at various angles and the people inside walking away. The smart car is a great idea, but seems incredibly risky considering the percentage of cars on the road here that are 6 times bigger at least.
But uh, kudos to them for trying!
- Current Mood:
cynical
Comments
I get the whole fuel economy angle, but what a god-awful looking thing.
]The insides of the car are very roomy for 2 people.
I love them, but if I actually lived in a city where a smartcar would be handy, I think I'd probably rather just buy a vespa. :)
It also saddens me that the solution to having too many large cars on the road is to buy an EVEN LARGER car than your neighbor's.
Word to my Canadian partner in cynicism today!!
I wanna get cynical
Let's get into cynical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
I think that was the first music video I ever saw.
The problem with cars like these is that the US is big. Really big. You think it's big, and it's bigger than that. It's immense. And, to make things worse, the US is founded on the concept that anyone can own some land and call it a home if you pony up enough cash. We all want to live somewhere with our own land, and there's plenty of land, and there are plenty of Americans, so we spread out into suburbs and exurbs in our goofy McMansions instead of living in clustered cities. And thus, we drive. Alot. A lot and a lot and a lot.
Living in Rome, a SmartCar would rock. If I lived in Rome, I would totally own one. It would get you out of the city on excursions, you can park it in one of the teeny tiny alleyways or in one of the 5 parking spots in the city, and you could run over crazy people on Vespas. Since, if you live in Rome, you never need to leave Rome, it's perfect and wonderful and awesome and happy.
But the idea of taking one of these things on the Capital Beltway at rush hour -- hell, I drive a light truck with rollbars and a paint job I'm not terribly attached to and I don't like driving the Capital Beltway at rush hour.
Fabulous idea. I don't know if they're going to sell to anyone.
http://www.zapworld.com/cars/smartCar.asp
I don't know if they will sell. Maybe it will. But if I was an urban driver I don't know if I would own a car. For example, if I lived in New York City there is no WAY I would have a car. I love my current car for the horsepower, cargo space and the smooth ride. Right now there is no way I would own a Smart Car. But I do agree that something needs to be done with cars and/or fuel.
There's even a sport's version. It's even smaller:
http://www.geocities.com/perry_peterson_1999/c.jpg
I love how you can parallel park them perpendicular to the curb.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=smartcar
:)
I am spceifically curious about it standing up to a bumper that's about eye level, which is probably where the H2 bumper comes to.
The problem you describe with marketing seems symptomatic not so much of a potential for bad smartcar design as an existing problem with retards buying massively over-engineered vehicles. :-(
I think the biggest problem is that it might not be so good at doing the kind of long distance road travel that America and Americans seem so enamored of. All the same, I hope it takes off!
-- curious_jp