The London based Times newspaper website reports that Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler and its Mercedes-Benz and smart car division, presented the latest smart fortwo to politicians and administrators in Washington, DC. He revealed some interesting facts.

smart has had a six-month sales tour around the US and has focused its campaign on the internet, inviting $99 deposits. More than 30,000 people signed up and so far more than 90% have converted these deposits into firm orders. Penske originally estimated US sales at 16,000 per year, but at the current order rate Mercedes will have difficulty meeting US demand. It’s a good problem for smart to have – not long ago it was losing money and Daimler considered closing it. Now, said Zetsche, smart has turned the corner: “It’s profitable, but not highly profitable.”

Several news sources are reporting that smart USA has deposits for more than 30,000 fortwo cars. They are speculating that, as a result of this demand, people currently submitting deposits online or looking for a car at a smart dealer in 2008 may be out of luck. Its not clear from any press releases or the smart USA website what the delivery throughput will be. Most sources report that the car will arrive in January. We placed our deposit in September. We’ll let you know when we hear more about our own order…

Dave Schembri, President of smart USA “introduced” the fortwo at a press conference in Washington, DC on December 5th. I’m not sure how this is an “introduction” but, hey, its marketing speak. Mr. Schembri described the benefits of the smart fortwo, including its great mileage, tridion safety cell, replaceable body panels and “wow factor”. Check out the YouTube video

According to the Financial Times, Daimler plans to begin testing plug-in electric versions of its smart fortwo in London next month, and to produce them for retail customers by 2010.

The brand will begin delivering electric cars to about 100 customers in the UK capital in mid-December and plans similar pilots in two other European cities, Anders Jensen, head of the smart brand team, told the Financial Times on Wednesday [November 21, 2007].

The test cars will be leased to mostly corporate and public-sector buyers – including the London police – for a pilot-test period of four years, Mr Jensen said.

New Car Net (UK) says Daimler’s smart EV is almost identical to the regular two-seater fortwo, except it uses an electric drivetrain and charges from the mains. The car has a 30kW output and a top speed of 70 mph, with a recharging time of approximately 3-and-a-half hours. It offers 0-30 mph in 6.5 seconds.

The current smart EV has a range of 72 miles and uses conventional NiMH batteries, although Daimler engineers are working hard to produce usable Lithium-ion versions.

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.