Auto news and reviews from Car Buyer's Notebook.com: Smart Archives

May 14, 2008

Video: 2008 smart car crash test

The Smart car is getting a lot of attention for its small size and style, and now it's earning impressive crash test ratings. In recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests, the 2008 Smart Fortwo, the smallest car for sale in the US market, earned the top rating of good for front and side crash protection. Its seat/head restraints earned the second highest rating of acceptable for protection against whiplash in rear impacts.

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May 12, 2008

2008 Fuel Economy Guide Available for Download

The EPA has issued a comprehensive PDF guide to fuel economy of all 2008 vehicles, which you can download by right-clicking here.

In today's gas market, buyers are more sensitive than ever about buying cars that get good mileage, and more important, they want the government ratings to be as accurate as possible -- nobody wants to buy a vehicle that gets 10% worse mileage in the real world than the sticker rating.

To address this situation, the EPA has started using an updated test to assign more accurate MPG ratings to new vehicles, and you can learn about that by watching the video in this post.

May 7, 2008

Mercedes-Benz global sales up 22%

Stuttgart — Combined sales of the four brands of Mercedes-Benz Cars (Mercedes-Benz, AMG, smart, and Maybach) reached a total of 119,000 units for April, an overall increase of 22 percent from the 2007 figure (97,800).

Since the beginning of the year, Mercedes-Benz Cars has thus delivered 437,700 vehicles, representing a 14 percent increase compared to the same period last year (384,600).

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May 1, 2008

Daimler AG Reports 22,954 Unit Sales in April

NEW YORK -- Daimler AG today reported total group sales (Mercedes-Benz and smart combined) of 22,954 passenger vehicles in the U.S. for April 2008. All sales figures in this release are on an unadjusted basis unless otherwise noted.

While experiencing a marginal three percent decrease in its April sales (20,271 vs. 20,895), Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) maintained a 1.4 percent increase for the first four months of the year (77,918 vs. 76,880), bringing year-to-date sales to the highest level in the company's history.

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Posted by Frank at 12:35 PM | Filed under Auto News | Industry Statistics | Mercedes-Benz | Smart

April 19, 2008

smart fortwo to be Launched in China in Mid 2009

BEIJING, and STUTTGART, Germany -- The smart fortwo will also be available to Chinese customers from mid 2009. This was announced by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, at the Auto China Beijing 2008 (22 - 28 April 2008).

This means that smart is now set to open up another major automobile market, following the successful launch in the USA.

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April 16, 2008

smart car book wins literary award

The highly regarded "Motor Presse Club" has awarded the author prize 2008 to the book "sideways. a smart art project" which was recently presented. The distinguished jury of the "MPC car book prize" awards this special prize every year for outstanding literary achievement in the field of car books.

For the award-winning book, smart and the publishing house "Gestalten Verlag Berlin" asked artists to submit contributions on the subject of the environment and smart.

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April 7, 2008

Crash test raises smart concerns

WASHINGTON - A government crash test of the 2008 Smart Fortwo micro car, the fuel-sipping vehicle that made its debut in the United States this year, has found a safety concern in side-impact testing, officials said Thursday.

During the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration side test on the Smart two-door, the driver door unlatched and opened. The government said that could lead to a driver or passenger being ejected from the 8-foot, 8-inch vehicle.

NHTSA, however, still gave the car its top score of five stars in side testing because of the ability of the car to protect the driver and passenger from injuries in a crash.

Posted by Frank at 12:01 AM | Filed under Auto Marketing | Auto News | Safety | Smart

April 1, 2008

smart sells 100,000th unit

Stuttgart – The smart fortwo continues its string of successes. Since the end of March 2007, the new model of the innovative two-seater has been purchased by a total of 100,000 customers, representing a sales increase of more than 80 percent.

Yesterday afternoon, Ulrich Kowalewski, director of the Mercedes-Benz Center Munich handed over the 100,000th second-generation smart fortwo to a 36-year-old customer in the recently re-opened smart Center Munich.

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Daimler AG Reports 22,542 Sales for March 2008

NEW YORK -- Daimler AG today reported total group sales (Mercedes-Benz and smart combined) of 22,542 passenger vehicles in the U.S. for March 2008. All sales figures in this release are on an unadjusted basis unless otherwise noted.

While experiencing a marginal 3.7 percent decrease in its sales for the month of March (20,808 vs. 21,612), Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) maintained a three percent increase for the first quarter of 2008 (57,647 vs 55,985) bringing year-to-date sales to the highest level in the company's history.

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Posted by Frank at 1:58 PM | Filed under Auto News | Industry Statistics | Mercedes-Benz | Smart

March 16, 2008

smart launches fashion line for Spring 2008

To match the new look of the smart fortwo, Mercedes-Benz Accessories GmbH is presenting the multi-faceted Collection 2008, which underlines the urban lifestyle of the smart community with four product lines.

The products featuring the brand logo and pictograms of the smart fortwo or the smart fortwo cabrio stand for innovation, functionality and joie de vivre. With their two-tone design and versatility they carry typical characteristics of the brand to the world of fashion.

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March 10, 2008

Portable nav system for the smart fortwo

The smart fortwo’s savvy nav concept is designed for the city. Mercedes-Benz Accessories GmbH is now offering a new guide for the nimble two-seater that enables smart fortwo drivers to find their way through the urban maze of an unfamiliar city.

The "portable smart navigation system II" is as extraordinary as the smart principle itself: with its optimum integration into the car, clear voice output and high-resolution TFT colour monitor, it makes mobile navigation a joy.

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February 14, 2008

Daimler AG Releases 2007 Financial Results

STUTTGART, Germany -- Daimler AG today presented its preliminary and unaudited figures for the Group and the divisions for the 2007 financial year.

Daimler achieved EBIT of euro 8,710 million (US$12,719 million) in 2007 (2006: euro 4,992 million, US$7,290 million), surpassing the earnings target of at least euro 8.5 billion (US$12.4 billion) that had previously been announced for the year 2007.

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February 13, 2008

smart cars sponsors an art project

Automobile company smart will introduce its creative anthology, “sideways. a smart art project,” on March 19, 2008 in New York.

The book picks up on the brand’s philosophy of questioning generally accepted ideas. The collection includes work by 100 international artists and creative minds, and seeks to evaluate the way we think about the environment and mobility in the here and now.

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Posted by Frank at 9:31 AM | Filed under 5th Wheel | Auto Marketing | Auto News | Smart

February 9, 2008

Smart Hybrid Concept Wins Environmental Nod

The German “Öko-Trend” environmental research institute has awarded its environmental certificate for cars to the smart fortwo micro hybrid drive (mhd).

In extensive analyses by experts from the Wuppertal-based independent institute the smart fortwo mhd scored top marks for all environment-related criteria.

According to the institute’s findings, the 52 kW (71 bhp) petrol variant which has been available in certain markets since October 2007 scores excellent ratings in terms of fuel consumption, exhaust and noise emissions.

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February 8, 2008

First Factory-Authorized smart fortwo Cars Arrive in Puget Sound

SEATTLE -- O'Brien Auto Group today announced the arrival of the state's first factory-authorized smart cars. The announcement, made at the company's new smart center Seattle, paves the way for car buyers here to own a certified US version of the car that comes with warranty and factory authorized service.

"This is a major announcement for anyone in the state who's wanted to purchase a smart car but balked at the high-cost and inconvenience of buying a gray market version of the car," said Michael O'Brien, CEO of O'Brien Auto Group.

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Posted by Frank at 8:23 AM | Filed under Auto Marketing | Auto News | Mercedes-Benz | Smart

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