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Smart at Paris: Wheres the New fortwo?

No Show for Next fortwo

If you attended the Mondial De LAutomobile in Paris this year, there was a critical vehicle that was missing from the display stands. This was the vehicle that many green automotive enthusiasts were looking forward to seeing, as the next generation of perfect urban transportation. It was also the last standing leg to an automaker currently in deep trouble: the next generation smart fortwo.

If you saw smarts stand at Paris, what

This is what smart brought to Paris, the send off to the fortwo. (Photo: smart)

you would have seen were fifteen smart fortwos, all of which were parked very closely together, mimicking the situation of a crowded parking lot. As usual, smart cleverly played on the car size factor, under the theme "The City Loves You", namely that it takes up about half the road space of

Plenty of smarts, but none of them were new. (Photo: smart)

a normal vehicle. Clearly, that has its advantages; if all vehicles were smarts, lines at traffic lights would only be half as long, and you wouldnt have that much difficulty finding a parking spot, as twice as many vehicles could fit in the same space.

Anyhow, all of the cars in this fortwo lot were painted in Lite White, with the Tridion safety cell painted in silver, with the exception of smarts Quilted fabric and red touches. Er... (Photo: smart) italic;">debut... the final "Red Edition", which is yet another special edition featuring a different combination of colors to seduce the easily persuaded. In the press blurb alone, smart cites the only difference being that the car has "an all-over intensive red finish". Yes, the Red Edition will be the official send-off of the current-generation fortwo, painted in the color of love, the color of passion, and incidentally, the color associated with deep financial trouble.

At the last minute, smart decided to postpone the launch of the

Why exactly did smart back out from bringing the next fortwo to Paris? (Photo: smart)

new fortwo. Its not the first time that the brand has done this; many were disappointed in Detroit a number of years back when the brand had showed up to the event with much fanfare only to leave the formore compact SUV behind, a vehicle that was supposed to spearhead the launch of smart in the United States. While the formore was completely axed, along with other vehicles in the European lineup, the new smart fortwo will reportedly be launched sometime in 2007, most likely at Geneva.

Of course, it helps to know that the second generation fortwo is nearly complete in terms of its development. The brand dropped a major hint as to what the next car will look like during

Whatever the reason, its going to have to be good if smart is to survive. (Photo: smart)

the German beach volleyball championships at Timmendorfer Strand beach in early September, which is essentially a similar looking vehicle due to the physical constraints of size, albeit with different nose, tail and details such as door handles and bumpers.

Since that time weve learned a little more about the car. From what we understand, the new fortwo will be powered at launch by a new turbocharged inline-three motor that was developed by Mitsubishi for its i / iCar, a rear-engined, rear-wheel drive minicar with four doors and four seats. Ideally, its what smart should have encompassed, enlarging its range with a car that embodies similar ideals about urban transportation. Too bad smarts parent company DaimlerChrysler split with Mitsu; smart could have had a real hit on its hands.

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