smart USA knows they have a winner in the fortwo! The confident company recently invited many automotive press folks to Silicon Valley, California for a test drive. The reviews garnered by this PR event have been universally good to great. We live about 5 miles from Stanford University where the road-test was held. Wish we had known; this would have been a great opportunity for photos. I guess our blog does not qualify us as “press”

Winding Road Magazine has a YouTube video of their test drive around the San Francisco Bay area.

One annoyance with the fortwo was frequently mentioned: the automatic-manual transmission. One reviewer stated that it “takes practice to achieve anything approaching smooth shifts”. In automatic mode, you have to slightly relax the accelerator to get smooth shifts. If you don’t, there’s a pronounced lag, or delay, as you go from gear to gear. Several people noted that, once you get used to shifting with paddles on the steering wheel, the shifting experience improves dramatically.

Smart’s second-generation (2008) Fortwo has just completed its Euro NCAP crash tests. It achieved a four-star rating (out of five) for adult occupant crash protection, one star better than the first Smart city car. Two (out of four) stars were awarded for pedestrian protection.

Click on the picture to see a YouTube video of the crash test.

FYI, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) only conducts crash tests after vehicles go on sale in the U.S.

According to a Mercedes press release, a new fortwo model, powered by a micro hybrid drive, will be offered in Europe starting in late October.

This model features a start/stop function that uses the engines idling phases. The new model will be available as a coupé and a cabrio in all three lines - pure, pulse and passion. The smart fortwo micro hybrid drive will initially be available as a left-hand-drive ECE version starting at about € 10,500 (US $15,500).

No exhaust emissions, no noise, no petrol consumption - when the engine would normally be combusting fuel unnecessarily when stationary, the new smart fortwo micro hybrid drive switches it right off whenever the driver brakes and the vehicle’s speed falls below 8 km/h (5 mph). As soon as the driver releases the brake pedal, the engine starts automatically and the journey can continue immediately without a noticeable delay

According to the Mercedes Car Group, smart fortwo continues to receive a very positive response from customers: The two-seater achieved a new sales record in September with deliveries to customers of 10,500 units, which represents an increase of 93 percent from September 2006 (5,400). Despite the focus on one model, overall sales for the entire smart brand were up eleven percent in September. These numbers obviously represent sales outside the USA as the fortwo is not yet available here

While smart vehicles have been sold since 1998, Mercedes has yet to realize a profit on the brand.

smart USA, a division of Penske Automotive Group, is the exclusive distributor for smart in North America and Puerto Rico. smart USA is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

The smart fortwo is manufactured by the Mercedes Car Group. This technologically advanced vehicle has been designed to achieve 40-plus mpg under normal driving conditions. The vehicle is 8.8 feet long, 5.1 feet tall and 5.1 feet wide and comes equipped with many standard functional and safety features such as electronic stability program, anti-lock brakes and four air bags. The smart dealer network in the USA has yet to be announced. smart is currently sold in 36 countries, and over 800,000 smart fortwos have been sold since 1998.