FIVE years ago, German vehicle group Daimler (then Daimler Chrsyler) put a fleet of Smart cars on the roads here to gauge public acceptance of the micro two-seater.
After a two-year trial, it found that people loved the car but hated the price.
At about $80,000 back then, the Smart cost as much as a big Toyota Camry.
Now, with pump prices at record levels, Daimler is trying again. A Smart (petrol version) will get you around 20km per litre, making it almost as frugal as a five-seater Toyota Prius hybrid ($90,000).
The Smart road show will not just be about fuel economy, though. Of the 10 cars being shipped here, there will be petrol and diesel variants, as well as what Daimler calls a Micro Hybrid Drive (mhd) model.
The Smart mhd is equipped with a 71hp 999cc engine fitted with an automatic stop-start function, which turns off the engine when the car is at rest and restarts it when the brake pedal is released. Even if it does not have an electric motor like true hybrids, this car has a claimed economy of 23km per litre.
Life! tested the Smart mhd in Spain recently and found another useful feature the Eco indicator in the instrument cluster lights up if the car is achieving optimal economy. It helps the cost-conscious driver to cruise with a light foot.
The diesel Smart is using has the lowest carbon dioxide emission among all cars with internal combustion engines.
But Daimler will show that it can be even cleaner. The company will run the diesel with biodiesel made from jatropha a wild weed-like plant that is deemed to be more politically correct than biofuels made from food plants like palm and corn.
Daimler is sparing no efforts. It is shipping its own supply of jatropha biodiesel here, possibly from India, where it has a venture making the stuff.
Jatropha biodiesel is green because it is carbon neutral (the plants take in CO2
to grow) and it is sulphur-free.
The Smart roadshow will get on the road as early as the fourth quarter, as the first cars have already arrived.
A Daimler spokesman says the trial will span 12 to 24 months. He adds that the exercise is not a prelude to making
Smart available at the showroom.
Asked why the full electric Smart is not included in the test fleet, he says this is because only 100 were made and all
are currently on trial in London.
Pity. The zero-emission Smart powered by natrium-nickel batteries can run for 115km between charges and sprints
to 100kmh from rest in merely 5.7 seconds.
