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Smart previews the biggest little city car you'll never drive

We are right on the precipice of the launch on an all-new generation of the Smart Fortwo in July. While the current one isn't exactly loved by US reviewers, the latest model rides on a fresh platform shared with the Renault Twingo in Europe. The company seems to be aiming for wider success this time with both two- and four-door versions on the way. In two new videos, the automaker cheekily shows us exactly what not to expect from its upcoming vehicle with a promo for its biggest city car ever.
The videos are actually kind of funny, and they slyly mock the concept of larger vehicles being better, especially in urban areas. Whatever Smart has up its sleeve for the next Fortwo, it's a very safe to bet that this is exactly the opposite, but these videos are certainly a clever marketing ploy.
Scroll down to check out of the world's largest subcompact.

Recharge Wrap-up: Charging in Iceland, Smart "For" campaign, Honda open sources Smart Home

Iceland's EV charging network is expanding by 200 units. A subsidiary of Northern Lights Energy called EVEN is providing and installing the rapid chargers, which it hopes to have installed by the end of the year. EVEN's Gisli Gislasson says, "We couldn't wait for the government and decided to do our part in this." Iceland's government hopes to have 10 percent of the cars on its road powered by sustainable fuels by 2020. Read more at Iceland Review. Argonne National Laboratory is working to create universal charging for electric vehicles. Through its new Electric Vehicle Interoperability Center, the group is studying ways to standardize charging so any type of electric vehicle in any country can charge at any charging station. Additionally, the research is working on ways to better integrate electric cars to a smart grid, to the point where EVs could even act as part of the grid, charging when they need it and providing electricity during peak hours. Go to Phys.org for more details. Smart has launched its "For" campaign in Europe. The maker of the tiny city cars is reaching out to the public through updated branding, ads through various channels and social media engagement to get people thinking about Smart in fresh ways. The campaign emphasizes the "For" idea, as in "For challenging the status quo," "For loving the city," etc. Also as part of the campaign, Smart will be embarking on a Europe-wide roadshow to 15 different cities, where the public can learn more about the cars – particularly the Fortwo and Forfour models – and even arrange a test drive. Read more in the press release below. Honda is publicly sharing plans associated with its Smart Home project. The project, which goes beyond cars and into the home to look for ways to live efficiently and reduce CO2 emissions, involves sustainable energy and heating and cooling methods, smart lighting, sustainable building materials and waste management, passive design and, of course, vehicle charging. Now, technical details such as architectural plans, mechanical drawings, furniture specs and CAD data will be open-source and publicly available for any interested parties. Check out the Honda Smart Home website to learn more, or to start downloading the plans yourself. "FOR" brand campaign: smart: More than just a car Functionality, innovation and joie de vivre – these are the brand values that make smart so unique. smart sees itself as a future-oriented, visionary brand that stands for a great idea.

Recharge Wrap-up: Batty battery covers, Mercedes at Silvretta, new Hyundai Sonata Hybrid available in 2015

Apparently, Chevrolet Volt battery covers make suitable homes for bats. As part of an Eagle Scout project, Matthew Netherland created 30 bat houses out of scrapped Volt battery covers donated by Chevy. 22 of the bat houses will be set up near hydroelectric dams in Michigan. Each bat house will accommodate 100 bats, and divert the scrapped materials from the landfill. The battery covers also make great nesting boxes for wood ducks, which General Motors has previously set up at its Milford, Michigan Proving Ground. Last weekend was the Silvretta E-Auto Rally, which saw emissions-free vehicles cross the Montafon Mountains in Austria, including cars from Mercedes-Benz. These cars included the B-Class Electric Drive, B-Class F-Cell, SLS AMG Electric Drive and even the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive. Also on hand for the Silvretta Classic Rally was a V8-powered C111, a 1978 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC and 300 SL Roadster. Read more in the press release, below. BMW has finalized pricing for the i8 in the US at $135,700 (plus $925 in destination charges). In addition to the base price tag, which we've known for a while, BMW Blog has the complete pricing guide with options and packages. Most of the i8 orders were the Pure Impulse World package, which includes various aesthetic upgrades. It also provides membership to the BMW i Pure Impulse Program, which allows you to "to enjoy innovative ideas and trends in a variety of areas, including home styling, culture, gourmet gastronomy, design and many more." Head over to BMW Blog for more information. The new generation of the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid will arrive later than the rest of the model lineup, confirms Car and Driver. While the gas-powered Sonatas get updated now for the 2015 model year, the Hybrid remains unchanged until late this year or early 2015, when it will arrive as a 2016 model. Hyundai is offering a 2015 Sonata Eco edition, but with 28 miles per gallon in the city and 38 mpg highway (32 combined), it's not quite as appealing as the current Sonata Hybrid's 36/40/38 figures. Read more here. In June, average US fuel economy was 25.5 miles per gallon, making it the fifth straight month above 25 mpg, according to University of Michigan. The average window sticker ratings from vehicles sold in June dropped slightly from 25.6 mpg in May. The year started at 24.9 mpg in January, and hasn't dropped below 25 mpg since.

Smart previews new city cars in teaser clip

Smart has tried its darnedest to diversify. It introduced the Smart Roadster in 2003 and the Forfour in 2004. It even did the Crossblade speedster in 2002. But each of those has fallen by the wayside, leaving the Fortwo as its only product. But that's all about to change.
After a long string of concept cars, the Smart brand is slated to introduce its all-new range at the Paris Motor Show come October. There it is expected to reveal both two-door and four-door versions of its new city car, based on common architecture with the new rear-engined Renault Twingo and with a keen eye fixed on the new Toyota Aygo, Citroën C1 and Peugeot 108.
Whether Daimler succeeds at broadening the Smart brand's range this time around remains to be seen, but in the meantime it has released this teaser video demonstrating the evolution of the design, which we've included below for your urban-transport enjoyment.

Street Glory Mappers turning cars into dynamic billboards like this

A French marketing firm with the impenetrable name of Street Glory Mappers is literally turning cars into billboards. Of course, we've all seen vehicles painted up for promotional use, but this company is taking that concept even further by including video.
Street Glory Mappers equips the vehicles with a large video screen behind the windshield to play whatever is being advertised. According to the company's promo, it may even be possibly to sync up the vehicle's lights with the show, as well. The firm claims that it's a great form of temporary, mobile marketing because the car can arrive at the location, play the video and then go away when the prospective audience leaves.
While it doesn't necessarily seem any more effective than other forms of advertising, the firm's idea is at least unobtrusive. After all, it's easier to ignore a stationary car than a person handing out flyers. However, vehicle flashing its lights and playing video could certainly distract other drivers.

Car2go shuts down in the UK

Until now, the trajectory of the Car2go carsharing service has been growth, growth, growth. But the expansion has hit a snag in jolly old England, where Daimler has announced it will shut down operations there. This means that the two Car2go UK locations, London and Birmingham, will no longer offer one-way, short-term car rentals as of tomorrow. Car2go is blaming "the UK's strong culture and tradition of private vehicle ownership" for the failure of the carsharing program in England. The company isn't giving up yet, and says it will "continue to observe the UK market for cultural changes towards the 'free-floating [carsharing] model'." UK Car2go members will still be able to use their moovel-accounts at Car2go projects in other European cities. The problem, a spokesman told Reuters, is that Car2go never registered over 10,000 users in the UK. Globally, there are over 750,000 Car2go users. Car2go started offering trips in the UK in the fall of 2012, when things were much more positive. The company said that it convinced the City of Birmingham to partner with it on a urban mobility pilot project thanks to Car2go's "unique features and many years of global experience in the sector of urban mobility." WITHDRAWAL FROM UK MARKET car2go, the pioneer of "free-floating" car sharing, will be withdrawing from the UK with effect from 30 May 2014. We've listened closely to customer feedback and taking the UK's strong culture and tradition of private vehicle ownership into account, we have decided to withdraw from the UK market place. car2go launched in Birmingham in 2013 and has been operating in three London boroughs since December 2012. The unique challenges we encountered were more significant than expected. As the world's largest free-floating carsharing provider, we will continue to observe the UK market for cultural changes towards the "free-floating model". car2go will continue to be a worldwide success story as we operate in a total of 25 cities around the World with more than 700,000 customers. With a moovel-account and a validated driving licence you will be still able to use car2go in all other 12 European car2go cities. === CLOSURE OF CAR2GO BIRMINGHAM AND WITHDRAWAL FROM UK MARKET car2go, the pioneer of "free-floating" car sharing, will be withdrawing from Birmingham with effect from 30 May 2014.

Mercedes won't build subcompact, Smart may

Mercedes-Benz has been profiting mightily from compact cars recently. Its Kecskemét, Hungary, factory added a third shift to keep up with demand, and company's US arm called the CLA-Class, its "best launch in 20 years." However, Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche says the Mercedes brand won't be getting any smaller, subcompact models; they will be reserved for the Smart brand.
Last year, Mercedes was rumored to be working on a X-Class subcompact model to sit between Smart's vehicles and the A-Class. The new vehicles would have been positioned against cars like the Audi A1. However, Zetsche told Automotive News Europe that those plans were seriously debated but finally nixed. The segment was decided to be too difficult to reach profitability in, and the competition too tight.
Instead, he said to ANE: "There is a possibility that Smart could expand into the subcompact segment, but we have not decided that yet." The brand launches the new Fortwo and Forfour later this year, but they don't quite carry the premium cachet that a Mercedes product does.

Daimler's Car2go carsharing service expands to Los Angeles

The Beach Boys typified the Southern California lifestyle by famously singing about hot rods, drag races and convertibles (not to mention surfer girls). So we never would've guessed that their hometown would help host a carsharing service featuring squat two-seaters. But times have changed. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler is bringing its Car2go carsharing service to Southern California on June 6, marking the service's 14th market in North America and its 27th worldwide. Car2go, which features Smart ForTwo two-seaters (almost exclusively) and has more than 700,000 users worldwide, is actually making it a South Bay affair, offering the service in the 28-square-mile area that ranges from El Segundo to Lomita and includes the Beach Boys' hometown of Hawthorne. Fun, fun, fun indeed. Car2go, which says it will provide the Los Angeles region's "first point-to-point" carsharing service, will make 150 ForTwos available at a rate of 41 cents a minute and is offering free registration and 30 minutes of free cruising for a limited period of time. Car2go started service in Rome in mid-March and has been adding new cities at quite a clip since starting out in Ulm, Germany, in 2008. It debuted stateside in Austin, TX in 2009. Check out Car2go's press release about its Los Angeles South Bay operations below, and get more LA details here. car2go Expands Network In Southern California With Point-to-Point Carsharing In The South Bay First Point-To-Point Service in the Los Angeles Region to Be Available On June 6th Free Registration Begins Today For a Limited Time AUSTIN, Texas, May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- car2go North America LLC, the fastest-growing global carsharing company, announced today that it will be expanding its network in Southern California with its pioneering point-to-point carsharing service in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County on June 6th, marking the South Bay as car2go's 14th market in North America and the first in the Los Angeles region. Beginning today, car2go will offer free member registration along with 30 minutes of drive time credit for a limited time at LA.car2go.com using the promotional code SURF. "We are thrilled to become part of the South Bay community by providing the most convenient, true point to point and technologically-advanced carsharing service in the world," said Nicholas Cole, President and CEO of car2go North America.

New Smart Fortwo and Forfour teased in promo video

Smart is just about ready to launch the all-new generations of the Fortwo and Forfour. It might be hard to get excited for a car with such a mixed reputation, but the company has high expectations for the updated models. In a new video, Smart teases some nearly final prototypes during arctic testing in Sweden.
Both new vehicles share a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive platform with the new Renault Twingo in Europe. The models in the video look quite tiny, and that isn't an optical illusion. Both cars are reportedly smaller than their predecessors. Even the already minuscule Fortwo is supposedly about six inches shorter than the original.
Both of them are rumored to go on sale sometime later this year, and even the Smart chief engineer in the video says, "The car is ready to be launched." Unfortunately, we probably won't get both models stateside. While the new Fortwo will come to the US, the Forfour likely won't make it here. Scroll down to get an early look at the next generation versions sliding around in the snow and ice.

Smart ForTwo owner misses point, swaps in big block V8

He's not actually a Smart ForTwo owner - he's a guy who built a custom chassis with a Chevrolet big block at the front that can fit a ForTwo body. And yes, there's almost nothing under that diminutive skin except a tube frame, an engine and a seat - the driver's helmet can't be more than a few hairs away from the back glass.
YouTube user Keith Pufahl shot video of white lightning at No Limit Raceway in Morocco, Indiana. In the video comments Pufahl says the builder is still dialing it in so he didn't set any records, but neverminding the run, did we mention there's a Smart ForTwo with a Chevy big block in the video below?