Other Small Cars

[GliderDude]

Hi all,

I heard of this car long before I ever heard of the Smart Fortwo. It's called the Subaru R1:
http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_sh...503_subaru_r1/

Looks similar in size to a Smart 42. This article is from 2006 and look at the last sentence in the paragraph. With the Smart 42 seeming to be making a big hit in America, do you think this success may shatter the notion that we're a no-fly-zone for superminis, and influence other manuafacturers to bring their superminis here? Now in the case of this Subaru R1 they'll definently up the HP a bit.

Ok, discuss.....

[smartie yank]

30,000+ deposits without any conventional advertising seems to be saying something.

[RLove]

It doesn't look like it could negotiate the high speed lane change, and is underpowered - even for a microcar.

Don't look for it anytime soon - if ever, (more likely).

[waapples]

There are *tons* of small cars in Japan, which basically out runs SmartCars there in JDM market.
If you happen to notice from their license plate, small car category gets the yellow license plate, you can find tons of these small cars made by Daihatsu, Matsuda, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and etc.

I really don't know the reason why these high mileage small cars aren't being marketed in US soil... Could give us more choices w/ cheap price.

[TomCat]

Originally Posted by smartie yank

30,000+ deposits without any conventional advertising seems to be saying something.

Yup, it says 30,000 x $99 = $2,970,000 funding with no interest.
It's actually ingenious.

The beautiful part (for smart usa) is that if the whole thing goes down the toilet, the $99 deposit you paid, you will never get back.
All charge-back rights on a credit card expire 60 days after you receive the statement with the charge on it. Which would affect most of us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When in your life, have you placed a deposit on an item not even in production, you don't know when (or if) you are going to get it, and you have no idea where you can pick it up and/or get service?

[SmartBob]

NO WAY Penske, Daimler and MB are going to pull anything like that. That little bit of $$$ is a drop in the bucket for them. That's just silly!