2013 Smart Fortwo Passion on 2040-cars

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Smart Fortwo Cabriolet coming to Frankfurt Motor Show

We kinda-sorta already knew this, but at an event this week in Portland, OR, Smart USA executives officially confirmed that the new Fortwo Cabriolet will bow at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. The Fortwo and Forfour hardtop models have already been on sale in Europe for a few months, and the US-spec Fortwo hits dealerships at the end of September. The Brabus Fortwo will launch in the "middle of next year," according to Smart boss Dr. Annette Winkler. But for now, the full Brabus model will not come to the US. Instead, there will be a "Brabus Tailor Made" program that we'll be hearing more about soon. On the EV side, we know that a new Smart Electric Drive is in the works. Last we heard, it'll launch in early 2017, and Winkler's comments this week reconfirm that. The car will debut at the end of 2016, so US sales will likely commence early the following year. In the meantime, the current Smart ED will be sold alongside the brand-new model. We had a chance to sample the European-spec Smart Fortwo (and Forfour) earlier this year, and found it to be a vastly improved product overall. We'll have our full impressions of the US-spec car soon, so stay tuned.

3,300 miles in 6 days across 2 countries in a Smart ForTwo

The surprise was when I got the invitation to drive my brand new car to central Mexico. Did I mention that I live in Kansas? Some may wonder why did I get invited to drive my car to another country: smart USA started selling the updated car in September 2015. Smart Mexico as of this writing just started selling the new model. There was going to be a national gathering of smart cars in Mexico, hence the invitation from the smart club in that country to show off the new car. Once I got everything ready the journey began driving southbound, crossing half of Kansas, all of Oklahoma and Texas entirely. The first day I traveled from east central Kansas all the way down to Laredo, Texas. The next day I crossed the border at 5 in the morning. Crossing the south border into Mexico legally is more complicated than one might think: you need to go through customs to get a permit to temporarily import your vehicle, you need extra insurance to cover your car while in that country, proof of ownership of the car or permission from your lien holder, and finally, pay a deposit as a guarantee that you'll return the car to the USA. The process takes time and money but once everything is clear you are free to drive everywhere in Mexico. Now, driving in Mexico is a whole new experience: some people seem to like driving, let's say, briskly. Some people don't care much about the speed limit. What are you suppose to do? You need to blend in. And the highways! Ah, those obstacles courses never fail to amuse you. But not everything is bad though, there are some brand new turnpikes where is hard to pass the temptation of speeding. On my first day driving in Mexico I stopped in Monterrey where I met with another smart car driver and together we continued the 9 hour trek to the city of Queretaro. After 24 hours on the road I had arrived to the hosting city of the 2015 smart Club Mexico National gathering, and I had to erase those 24 hours worth of mosquitoes and other bugs glued to the car. A local car wash couldn't keep its promise of cleaning the vehicle in 15 minutes despite the size of the car. Once back at the event's site I got to feel what is like to be a rock star. Oh boy! Those stares, the thumbs up, the VIP treatment. It sure feels nice being the center of the universe, and all thanks to my smart car. On the first day of the event there was a parade, a rally around the city, a photo shooting and of course good food.

Someone starts a new Car2go carsharing trip every 2.5 seconds

In the fall of 2009, a big idea using little cars got its US start in Austin, TX. That's when Daimler's Car2go carsharing program first came to North America after its global debut in Ulm, Germany. The idea was simple: let people rent a car for just a few minutes at a time, and let them end their rental when they got to wherever it was they were going (within limits). It sure seemed to make sense, but would Americans like short-term rentals in the little Smart cars? Four years later, we thought we'd ask where things stand. Car2go has more than 600,000 members, who have taken 18 million trips total and a new one every 2.5 seconds. Daimler started with a fleet of 200 Smart Fortwos in Austin (and a similar number in Ulm) and has now become, "the largest global carsharing company," according to J. Paul DeLong, the chief marketing officer of Car2go NA. You can now step into one of 10,000 Car2go Fortwos in 25 cities in seven countries (sadly, not all using the same account). DeLong told AutoblogGreen that, with, "more than 600,000 total worldwide members," 18 million trips total and a new trip starting every 2.5 seconds, Car2go is "fast on Zipcars heels." Car2go's push and pull with Zipcar looms big on DeLong's mind. He said that 73 percent of Car2go members in the US are not members of any other carsharing program. "So," he said, "think about how the Car2go one-way model has been able to attract more people to carsharing, because the classical carsharing was not attractive for them to join or not practical for their use. I love this stat, because everybody assumes that Car2go is piggy backing on the existing carsharing companies. It shows also that there is a lot of room for growth without having to engage existing classical carsharing member bases." We've got the breakdown of the membership numbers for Car2go North American locations below. According to DeLong, here are the official membership numbers for Car2go: North America: Austin: +32,000 San Diego: +24,000 DC: +30,000 PDX: +19,000 MIA: +18,000 SEA: +35,000 DEN: +16,000 VAN: +44,000 TOR: +25,000 CAL: +42,000 Minneapolis, Columbus, and Montreal member numbers have not been released. Europe: +320,000 members Three locations have an all-electric fleet with a total of 1,200 vehicles: Stuttgart San Diego Amsterdam Related Gallery Calgary Car2go News Source: Car2go Green smart Transportation Alternatives zipcar car2go austin