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Smart ForTwo outruns police in Phoenix ... well, not exactly outruns

Well, this happened. A man was arrested after he led police on a long chase through metropolitan Phoenix in a silver Smart ForTwo, a car with 89 horsepower and a top speed of 96 mph. Worst getaway car ever? The action, if you can call it that, started Wednesday in suburban Gilbert, where police responded to a call about a suspicious man screaming in the parking lot of a Walmart. Fox 10 reports that the man refused to speak with police, got into his pint-size ForTwo and took off. Officers tried to pull him over, but the driver refused and ran several stoplights. From there, he headed west on Interstate 10, where the station’s helicopter captured nearly 41 minutes of decidedly unexciting footage in which you can see a police SUV briefly giving chase as the suspect drove west on the lightly trafficked freeway, appearing to drive at highway speeds. UPDATE: DPS pit-maneuvered the Smart car that fled Gilbert PD. 1 male in custody. No injuries. pic.twitter.com/YXBdciJPHP — jonathan roy (@JRFox10) April 22, 2020 Police reportedly eventually gave up the chase for unknown reasons. But the suspect was apprehended after police used a pit maneuver to get him to stop. Parent company Daimler discontinued combustion versions of the Smart in 2017 in the U.S. and stopped selling the brand altogether following the 2019 ForTwo Electric Drive. Chinese automaker Geely last year purchased a 50% stake in the automaker. Weird Car News smart

Brabus Smart range tuned all the way to 107 hp

Performance is relative. Take these new Smart models tuned by Brabus, for example. They only pack 107 horsepower, which would hardly be enough to reach highway speed in most cars. But in something this small, a seemingly modest output increase is enough to make all the difference. Revealed at the 2016 Beijing Motor Show, the new Brabus versions of the Smart ForTwo, ForTwo Cabrio, and ForFour boast a series of mild performance upgrades. The 898-cc turbocharged three-cylinder engine carries over, but it has been retuned to pull in more air and fuel and produce 20 percent more power and 25 percent more torque; that 107-hp figure represents an 18-horse increase over the 89 hp in the standard version, and the 125 pound-feet of torque a solid improvement over the standard 100. It's also 7 hp and 17 lb-ft more potent than the previous Brabus Smart. The Brabus-fettled ForTwo with the dual-clutch transmission can reach 62 miles per hour in 9.5 seconds versus 11.3 for the stock car. See what we mean about things being relative? Of course, Brabus being Brabus, the tuners didn't just tweak the engine and call it a day. They also increased the suspension's stiffness by 20 percent, fitted a front anti-roll bar, retuned the ESP and steering, mounted new wheels, added a launch-control-like Race Start feature, and installed a new exhaust system. There's a host of cosmetic upgrades available as well. While a little extra power would be a big help on American roads, these high-output Smarts aren't likely to make it here. If the past is a guide, we might get a Brabus-look package at some point. That's too bad, because if you have to drive a city car, these new Smarts seem like the most fun options. Related Video: Top version with 80 kW/109 hp coming in the summer: More power than ever: the new smart BRABUS Beijing/Stuttgart. With 80 kW/109 hp, the new smart BRABUS is among the sportiest vehicles in its segment. Alongside the powerful turbo engine, this is down to the BRABUS Performance sports suspension with specially adapted ESP®, the sports power steering and sporty configuration of the twinamic dual-clutch transmission with Race Start function. The vehicle also comes as standard with a sporty look both inside and out. Available in fortwo, fortwo cabrio and forfour versions, the new smart BRABUS will celebrate its world premiere at the Beijing Automotive Exhibition (25 April to 4 May 2016). The first models will be in European dealers' showrooms from July 2016.

Smart Fortwo, Forfour reborn with fresh styling on new platform [w/video]

Meet the 2016 Smart Fortwo and Forfour, a new pair of hatchbacks that Daimler hopes will revive the struggling Smart brand. We aren't expecting to see the Forfour here in the US market, although the smaller Fortwo should eventually hit our shores in the future.
Following yesterday's teaser sketches, it's plain to see that those drawings were fairly close to what we're seeing here. The new Smarts boast styling inspired heavily by the brand's concepts, with a bolder, sportier aesthetic.
Both two-door and four-door boast rear-engine layouts, with power coming from a trio of three-cylinder, gas-powered engines.