Another Ugly Rumor

[alejake]

It has been announced in the Greater Phoenix (Arizona) area that the SmartCar will be selling starting in March of 2008 for between $12K and $18K.

The ugly side of this rumor is that these will be cars licensed by and built by Mitsubishi, and that they will have less HP and get less MPG. Any truth to any of this?

[SMART]

I have not heard anything about a these claims, do you have a news article to reference?

[alejake]

Originally Posted by SMART

I have not heard anything about a these claims, do you have a news article to reference?

The below is the only article I have been able to find, and it relates to the supplying of only the engines.
.................................................. ......
Mitsubishi To Supply Engines For New SmartCar
28th October 2005

Mitsubishi Motors and DaimlerChrysler subsidiary have signed an agreement that will result in the Japanese auto maker supplying an engine of the same type as the turbo-charged engine to be used in its new concept minicar due for launch in January 2006.

The engine will be further developed for use in smart's fortwo successor model, which will be available from 2007 onwards.

AdvertisementMitsubishi and DaimlerChrysler have been cooperating on various win-win projects in recent years and further ones are constantly in discussion. They generate substantial synergy effects for all partners and this engine supply agreement is another part of this cooperative relationship.

The engines to be supplied are the natural aspirated and turbo-charged engines based on the engine developed for Mitsubishi minicar "i" and will be produced at Mitsubishi's powertrain production facility in Mizushima, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.

[SmartCard]

The first sentence is reasonable, I suspect the second is pure hogwash!

edit: just notice your new post. That is accurate- the engines are Mitsu's and to be built in Japan.

[SMART]

Originally Posted by alejake

The below is the only article I have been able to find, and it relates to the supplying of only the engines.
.................................................. ......
Mitsubishi To Supply Engines For New SmartCar
28th October 2005

Mitsubishi Motors and DaimlerChrysler subsidiary have signed an agreement that will result in the Japanese auto maker supplying an engine of the same type as the turbo-charged engine to be used in its new concept minicar due for launch in January 2006.

The engine will be further developed for use in smart's fortwo successor model, which will be available from 2007 onwards.

AdvertisementMitsubishi and DaimlerChrysler have been cooperating on various win-win projects in recent years and further ones are constantly in discussion. They generate substantial synergy effects for all partners and this engine supply agreement is another part of this cooperative relationship.

The engines to be supplied are the natural aspirated and turbo-charged engines based on the engine developed for Mitsubishi minicar "i" and will be produced at Mitsubishi's powertrain production facility in Mizushima, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.

I think you might be stuck looking at some very old news as it is dated 2005 and is talking about January 06 launches. The Mitsubishi has yet to make it to the US market and I have no word on cross technology work in the motors. As for the rumor, I would not stick to it and if you really want to, stop by the street tour and you can take a look at the current motor that we will see in our smart cars.

[SMART]

the Mitsubishi car

[belkin666]

edmunds is reliable source

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=119682

or

http://car-reviews.automobile.com/ne...-engines/1505/

[Smart Club France]

Originally Posted by alejake

It has been announced in the Greater Phoenix (Arizona) area that the SmartCar will be selling starting in March of 2008 for between $12K and $18K.

The ugly side of this rumor is that these will be cars licensed by and built by Mitsubishi, and that they will have less HP and get less MPG. Any truth to any of this?

Hi, sorry, but the smart is only building in France. The build of the smart fortwo fot the US market will be launch in the plant "smartville" in september 2007. ;)

Mitsubishi contribute only for the 1.0L motor.

[belkin666]

"only"!!!!

[SmartAmerica]

Daimler Chrysler and Mitsubishi Motors introduced the first four-door Smart, in 2003. It was called the smart forfour.



The new, now old Smart ForFour was the first vehicle from the joint DaimlerChrysler/Mitsubishi Z-car project, based on the new Japanese Colt subcompact, which also included the European Colt.

The shared components developed by Mitsubishi include the petrol engines, rear axle, structural components in the vehicle underbody, the manual transmission and the emission and fuel tank system. Both vehicles will be built at NedCar in Born (Netherlands).

To save production costs, the Smart Forfour shared most of its components with the 2003 Mitsubishi Colt, including chassis, suspensions, and the MIVEC petrol engines, three- and four-cylinder, ranging from 1.1 to 1.5L.

The car was produced at the NedCar factory in the Netherlands in conjunction with Mitsubishi Motors. This is the same factory that produced Volvo 340 cars in 1970s and 1980s.


It was reported in 2004 that the next Smart Forfour was designed to pass all U.S. safety and emissions regulations.

On June 30th of 2005 year Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp and DaimlerChrysler halted production of the Smart Forfour.