smart Gets Smart Navigation With Garmin GPS

Garmin International today announced that smart, the iconic automotive brand of DaimlerChrysler, will begin offering the smart portable navigator — a Garmin GPS designed for the cockpit of smart's fortwo and forfour models. The smart portable navigator is a derivative of Garmin's newly announced StreetPilot c500 series. "smart cars and Garmin units are a great match because both companies strive to offer customers products with innovative designs, advanced technologies and powerful performance," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "We are delighted to work with smart, and are certain that our in-car navigation system will make driving even more fun for smart owners." Mounted in a custom cradle that complements smart's sleek and innovative cockpit design, the smart portable navigator provides in-car navigation with automatic route calculation to any destination. The directions may be viewed with a three-dimensional navigation view or a "bird's eye" overhead view. The unit offers voice-prompted directions so that drivers are able to keep their eyes on the road while navigating through busy traffic. If a driver misses their turn, the smart portable navigator will automatically calculate a new route and get the driver back on track. The smart portable navigator includes a large preloaded points of interest (POIs) database that makes it easy for users to find and route to destinations such as hotels, restaurants, fuel stations, and attractions. Custom POIs may also be loaded on the unit. It is equipped with a new high-sensitivity GPS receiver, which acquires a GPS signal quickly and is capable of maintaining a signal in heavy foliage or "urban canyons" created by city skyscrapers. It also features a brighter, sunlight readable touchscreen display. The smart portable navigator will be available on smart models fortwo and forfour beginning in the summer of 2006.
Tags: smartcar

The Wheel Deal: Smaller is better ... kind of

Great news! According to at least one analyst, sales of subcompact cars in the U.S. are supposed to double in the next five years!
If this gives you visions of nation-wide FUH2 dancing in your head, you may also be one of those folks who believed your friends when they said the word "gullible" wasn't in the dictionary. (Hint: it is.) A doubling of the U.S. subcompact car market would bring small cars' share of the new-vehicle market to a whopping 3 percent. Actually less than 3 percent. Sigh. Why, why would this be? Says another analyst:
I don't think [the subcompact is] a car for the U.S. market ... Those cars look great in Europe, but put them on road here next to a big SUV and they don't look so good anymore.
I'm assuming by "good" he means "pridefully wasteful to compensate for small-manhood syndrome." That being the case, I suppose he has a point.

Considering the above, small-car manufacturers are hesitant to market their wares in the States. DaimlerChrysler, maker of the Smart car, is "currently evaluating the brand's chances of success" here.

Tags: smartcar

UK group wants sporty Smart car

A British consortium is in talks with DaimlerChrysler's struggling Smart brand about buying a licence to produce its two-seat sports car.
It is thought the group wants to market the car under the iconic MG brand now owned by China's Nanjing Automobile.
Newspaper reports last week claimed the Kimber consortium would move production to Coventry, away from MG's home at Longbridge in the West Midlands.
But Nanjing has since said that it is unlikely to sell the brand

Tags: smartcar

'Smart Cars' Make Their Debut In Loveland

A popular European car made its way to Loveland, making it the third city in the United States to have them.The owner of Mountain View Motors is hoping that Colorado drivers will choose the "Smart Car" for its looks and gas mileage.The cars are called smart cars because they are small, fuel efficient, and easy to park. The back of the car has a little bit of storage space and the cover to the engine."It has an amazing amount of power," said Bob Hunt, owner of Mountain View Motors. "We've heard reports that people are getting 60 miles per hour pretty regularly."On some of the models, the roofs are glass making it easy to see through."They're cute," said a potential buyer. "It's just a new way of looking at transportation."Hunt's new batch of cars are only demo. He bought them in Europe and had them slightly modified to be legal in the U.S. The engine in the smart car is a 3-cylinder with a turbo charger to give it more power. Each car will cost about $25,000.

Tags: smartcar

'Smart' car become new city services vehicle

Dakota Bylaw Services is test driving a new Chrysler Smart Car. The environmentally friendly car is part of the City of Dakota's attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Smart Car costs 15-thousand dollars and is expected to use almost one-thousand dollars a year less in diesel fuel. City officials will test drive the car through the winter and decide whether to purchase more. Mayor Darren Crumple says the city is also looking at purchasing hybrid buses for inter-city bus travel

Canada : Smart Car selects T-shirts to create environment consciousness

World's largest hemp T-shirt apparel brand and seller Hemptown tee shirts has been chosen by Smart Car twice in the last year as their official club collectible. On behalf of its members, the car club has purchased hemp and bamboo tee shirts with artwork depicting their favorite automobile, the Smart Car. "The club called them because they wanted a tee-shirt that was as sound for the environment as their Smart Cars," said Hemptown Clothing CEO Jerry Kroll. "They wish every company and organization in North America thought like the Smart Car Club does: 'How can their official clothing and gifts make a smaller environmental footprint?'" Petroleum and cotton based textiles have high environmental costs and are not sustainable for their future. Hemp, Bamboo and Soy are highly environmentally sensitive, grown organically without the use of pesticides, toxic fertilizers or the enormous fresh water irrigation required by cotton. Club Smart Car member Dr Kirk Finnis: "Smart Car owners have a great affinity for their cars and they love talking about how practical they are - the small size, ease of parking and environmentally friendly. It seemed natural to them that they would seek out an official club tee-shirt that was just as practical and easy on the environment." Hemptown's Jerry Kroll continues: "The rise of hybrid and eco-friendly automobiles like the Smart Car perfectly mirrors what Hemptown is all about.

Wise up, Mercedes, and let me buy a little 'smart' car

L eave it to a reporter to stand in a big room with the most spectacular cars in the world and complain about one that isn't there. Two years ago, Mercedes-Benz showed off an 8-foot-long commuter called the smart fortwo at the North American International Auto Show. It had two seats, three cylinders and no capital letters, that last part to emphasize how cute and perky it was. Last year, smart had its own tiny display at Cobo Center, where the company predicted arrival in U.S. showrooms by late 2006. The fortwo has been on the road in Europe since the late '90s, and astute Canadians bought more than 4,000 diesel versions last year, but the American launch has been postponed until Well, maybe never. Which is why there are no smarts at the auto show, and why I pinned down smart communications director Heinz Gottwick to ask, ever so politely, "When can I buy my darned smart car?" "My motto in life is 'no risk, no fun,'" Gottwick says, "but sometimes, you have to be cautious." That means Mercedes is still trying to figure out if smart can make money -- something it has never quite accomplished in Europe -- and whether it can redesign the $15,000 roller skate to meet American safety standards without sacrificing its sweet little soul. The odd problem, safety-wise, is that the 1,600-pound smart is too big inside. Canadian crash tests are conducted with the dummies wearing seat belts. Assuming, apparently, that U.S. drivers are too dense to buckle up in a car the size of a sheepdog, our testers leave the belts off. "This makes a huge problem if you have too much space," Gottwick says. An American version would need some sort of knee bar for the passenger, among other things. So Mercedes has to decide whether it's worth the effort to tinker with the fortwo, find willing Mercedes-Benz dealerships and develop a marketing scheme for a 60-miles-per-gallon micro-car in a nation that thinks a Hummer is a perfectly sensible vehicle. The decision will come by mid-year. As someone who plans to be first on the waiting list, I hope Mercedes steps smartly, in every conceivable sense.