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Smart car doesn't look too clever
Thisislondon.co.uk ^ | 2/16/05 | add925

Posted on 02/18/2005 7:45:39 AM PST by add925

IT'S Smart but it's certainly not clever, and it has cost Daimler-Chrysler more than e2bn (£1.4bn) since its launch. Now the question is: how much longer will the carmaker continue to underwrite the underperforming Smart car?

Heralded as the future of urban personal transport when it was launched in 1998, the car was environmentally friendly, ergonomically appealing and space efficient.

But DaimlerChrysler's unique minicar has been revealed in the German media as a costly failure with 2004 losses of about e600m, making the overall dent in its creator's pocket up to e2bn.

(Excerpt) Read more at thisislondon.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: autoshop; energy; environment; eurolibs; smartcar
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To: Gorzaloon

21 posted on 02/18/2005 8:01:02 AM PST by add925 (The Left = Xenophobes in Denial)
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To: Maceman
I guess its ok if you have no family, no kids, no friends, no dates and never have to carry a load bigger than what you could fit on a bicycle.

My friend and his wife can do a full shopping trip in theirs. From experience, I can say it easily fits four cases of German beer, and that's important, right?

22 posted on 02/18/2005 8:01:10 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: add925

Looks like a rebodied BMW Isettta....the one with the single door on the front and the steering column that pivoted with the door. LOL!


23 posted on 02/18/2005 8:01:45 AM PST by Ben Hecks
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To: add925

Anyone realize that with a car that small, you might as well have a piece of paper between you and an oncoming car?

At least with a larger vehicle, you stand a chance. Bet that thing doesn't offer full airbag coverage.


24 posted on 02/18/2005 8:02:08 AM PST by TheRatHunter
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To: add925

I could see getting one of these as a second "town" car to run back and forth to the train station and such. I would still need a large family car for driving on the interstate and for longer trips, however. But for a second car for a two car family, it might just fit the bill.


25 posted on 02/18/2005 8:02:22 AM PST by gridlock (If a man says something while alone in the forest, and no woman hears him, is he still wrong?)
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To: Gorzaloon
We saw some really goofy little things in France that were about this size, and wondered about survivability.

The goofy things in France are deathtraps. Some serious safety engineering went into these cars, making them as safe as your standard compact car here.

26 posted on 02/18/2005 8:02:39 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Gorzaloon
While I agree with most that this looks ridiculous, I did some reading on it before and noticed that they actually did a fair amount of work in survivability. The passengers are actually in a sturdy roll cage. The rest of the car is just a big crumple zone. So the passengers should survive the accidents the passengers of compact to mid-sized cars would survive. The car, however, might not do so well.
27 posted on 02/18/2005 8:02:49 AM PST by JayB
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To: Servant of the 9
I thought this was the 'Spare Tire' for the Maybach.

No, it's the dinghy.

28 posted on 02/18/2005 8:02:56 AM PST by Trailerpark Badass
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To: add925

DaimlerChrysler, eh? Well, if they stuff a Hemi in it, I might be interested. Of course, I'd probably have to ride on top... ;-)


29 posted on 02/18/2005 8:03:15 AM PST by Charles Martel
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To: antiRepublicrat

I read about this car a couple years ago. I would buy one. Lots of GOOD sensible selling features.


30 posted on 02/18/2005 8:04:00 AM PST by SMARTY ("Stay together, pay the soldiers and forget everything else." Lucius Septimus Severus to his sons)
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To: add925

You could barely pack anything into that little piece of junk.


31 posted on 02/18/2005 8:04:33 AM PST by rwfromkansas ("War is an ugly thing, but...the decayed feeling...which thinks nothing worth war, is worse." -Mill)
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To: add925

The more I look at the roadster the more I think they have something here. Looks like a Honda civic but if you scroll through all the body options the kids would love it.

http://www.thesmart.co.uk/index.html


32 posted on 02/18/2005 8:05:38 AM PST by mpreston
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To: television is just wrong
like this?
33 posted on 02/18/2005 8:05:44 AM PST by Repealthe17thAmendment (Is this field required?)
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To: add925

I'd rather have the Isetta. It has more "character."


34 posted on 02/18/2005 8:06:33 AM PST by Pete'sWife (Dirt is for racing... asphalt is for getting there.)
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To: antiRepublicrat
I'd buy the car pictured above-left if it arrived here.

They recently got clearance to import them here.

35 posted on 02/18/2005 8:06:33 AM PST by sionnsar († trad-anglican.faithweb.com † || Iran Azadi || This part of this tagline is under construction.)
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To: add925

Smart car...stupid driver.


36 posted on 02/18/2005 8:06:37 AM PST by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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To: add925

The wildest car I ever owned was a 1973 Pantera-DeTomaso.

Hmmm... Nope, even on second thought I would not trade the Pantera for this squashed bug they call a car.


37 posted on 02/18/2005 8:06:45 AM PST by RadioAstronomer
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To: mpreston
The problem they might have is that the roadster is 80 bhp.

But the curb weight is only 1,700 pounds. The Lotus Elise is a world-class sports car at that weight with only 50% more horsepower.

38 posted on 02/18/2005 8:07:46 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Repealthe17thAmendment

exactly. My son loved that car. However today he couldn't put his large size 13 into it.


39 posted on 02/18/2005 8:08:03 AM PST by television is just wrong (Our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: Gorzaloon
It would be easy to park. You could fit that thing into any space!

Many years ago I had a Honda 600 Coupe (a little bit larger than this, I think, but not much). Actually did park it underneath a semi trailer (no tractor) once -- for a few minutes' run into a store.

40 posted on 02/18/2005 8:08:26 AM PST by sionnsar († trad-anglican.faithweb.com † || Iran Azadi || This part of this tagline is under construction.)
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