The Elusive American Smart Car
Seen in the wild in the US
For the first time in my life I am planning to buy a car.
When I was 17 my parents gave me one, a hand-me down Ford Fiesta that my friends fondly recall as ‘Old Red’, a car that was herself 16 years old when I left Ireland and gave her away for scrap.
I moved to London and later to New York, two cities so well-served by public transport and so choked with traffic that I saw owning a car as a liability. But now Summer and I have moved to San Francisco and, while there are some deeply committed pedestrians and cyclists who live and work in the city, my new company will probably be based in the Valley, and so our carbon footprint will soon expand.
I am not sure that we have the strength of character to buy a Smart car though. I saw this one last night outside Terminal 1 at Oakland airport. A man standing next to me broke off his cellphone conversation and said "I don’t believe it, it’s a Smart car!"; a woman walking by said "Ohmygodasmartcarthat’ssocuuuuute!"; and another woman stared after it, looking very confused, and said to me "what kind of a car is that?" I told her that it was European. "Ah," she said, this being the only explanation she needed.
There may be more ivory-billed woodpeckers than Smart cars in America. The exclusive dealer, Zap, had sold just 300 of them as of September last year. (Note that they are the least odd-looking cars sold by Zap.) Perhaps SmartUSA will have more luck.
In Europe they are everywhere of course. In Barcelona last month I saw a convoy.
March 11th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
So is it just the gawking that makes the Smart Car undesirable? And isn’t there something funky going on about the SmartUSAs as in, they really aren’t going to be the typical ‘Smart’ car, but some hybrid or another that won’t appeal to Smart car folks or folks who want to be fuel efficient?
March 12th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Do you remember what it was like to be a five year old in a world of great lumbering adults? That’s what I think of when I think about driving a Smart car on 101.
SmartUSA were planning to introduce some kind of Smart SUV a few years ago, an oxymoron if ever there was one, but I don’t think it ever came to market.
March 14th, 2007 at 5:31 am
I don’t know if there are a lot of Smart cars in Spain but here in France there aren’t too many of them. People think they are way too expensive - for just 2 people ! And I agree with you Jason, it feels like you are in a toy car and I can’t imagine what will happen if you have an accident in such a tiny car. The only advantage is when you want to park in our cities where parallel parking is the rule. With a Smart car it is not even parallel parking , it is ‘perpendicular’ parking .
March 30th, 2007 at 3:29 am
Jason,
Two cars = a convoy? You haven’t seen the great Kris Kristofferson and Ali McGraw…when they got them a convoy, Rubber Ducky?…and in fact they’re not even cars….on the way into work today I saw a Smart-esque voiture but an electric one…that’s too PC….but it was in Hamstead so I expect that there’s a lot of wealth guilt…
D
November 25th, 2007 at 9:33 am
It looks like a golf car except smaller. I actually went to visit the Smart USA link you posted. The black one look fantastic, really… Would accidents be less painful if all cars were designed like Smart Cars?
January 21st, 2008 at 12:48 am
Tata Motors has announced to launch one such car in under $2000 but i dont thin it will be a smart car n any terms