This ran in my local newspaper yesterday. Nice article, cute car!
Are they 'Smart'?
Deb Acord - CTW Features
Innovative cars always capture our imagination: the Hummer H1, the Toyota Prius, the Volkswagen Beetle.
But all combined, the muscle-bound behemoth SUV, the ground-breaking hybrid and the new incarnation of a classic favorite didn't create the buzz that surrounds the sighting of a new car called simply "smart" (modestly lower-case, please).
Just ask Pam de Jong. The 40-year-old from Castle Rock, Colo. was the second person to take possession of a smart car at the Denver dealership when it opened earlier this year. de Jong, who calls herself a "smart evangelist," fell in love with the tiny car a decade ago when she visited Europe, and she had watched impatiently for news of its domestic debut for years.
"I just had to have one, and finally I do," she says. De Jong's smart passion cabriolet (as the convertible version is called) is custom-painted a bright, lime green with purple paw prints that prompted her to name it Spot. It's one of her most-prized possessions, and was even included in the photographs of her wedding to her husband Robert de Jong in June. De Jong has gotten accustomed to the stares, cheers, laughter, questions and hand gestures (usually thumbs-up) when she drives Spot. "I had a MINI Cooper a while back, and I learned quickly you couldn't be a shy person and drive one," she says. "The smart gets even more attention. I always have to make sure I give myself a little extra time where ever I go so I can talk with people."
Pam de Jong with new husband and her smart - Spot.
The smart car's appeal is its size - positively tiny - and its place as a revolutionary newcomer in the U.S. It has traveled European roads for nearly a decade, and made its debut here at the beginning of the year.
A Daimler brand manufactured by Mercedes Benz, smart cars are distributed by smart USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Penske Automotive Group. Today, there are about 17,000 on the road here and the company says 30,000 people have paid $99 to put their names on a reservation list that allows consumers to design their own smart and then wait (sometimes as long as a year) for it to arrive.
The smart car is the smallest full-sized automobile to ever take to the road in the United States. It's been called a "tyke," a "toddler" and "just plain cute."
Basically golf-cart-sized, the smart is so different than any other car on the road in this country that dealers like Trang Hamm, president and general manager of smart center Denver and Portland, Ore., had to rethink the car business. "People who are walking in our door are curious about the cars," she says. "But they can't buy one off the floor, and we can't sell them one. The cars we get in were reserved over a year ago. It's very humbling to sell a product that way. And it's exciting to be a part of a trend-setter in its marketplace."
Trang Hamm drives an attention-getting black smart passion cabriolet with tinted windows on the streets and freeways around Denver and Portland, where she tests the tiny car's mileage. "I get about 38 to 42 miles per gallon, driving mainly city," she says. "I have a customer who has a 45-mile freeway commute, however, who says he gets around 45."
The mileage is one of the selling points of smart cars, but it's not the main reason drivers are drawn to them, says Ken Kettenbeil, director of communications for smart USA, based in suburban Detroit. "We've found that people who are purchasing the cars can be grouped by similar attitudes and lifestyles, rather than similar ages and incomes."
First-time smart buyers tend to live in larger urban areas, Kettenbeil says. "The cars are popular in areas with parking issues." Buyers vary in age from 18 to 85, but the car is especially attractive to empty nesters and baby boomers looking for a second or third vehicle. "And most of all, people are attracted to the idea of being the first on their block with a car like this. It's fun to drive, different, unique," he says.
The unique size of a smart car draws customers to dealerships around the country. In La Vista, Neb., a suburb of Omaha, "people are drawn to the novelty of them," says Andrea Falter, brand manager of smart center La Vista.
At Falter's dealership, deep in the heart of Nebraska Cornhusker football territory, red is the most popular smart color. She drives a black and silver smart passion coupe through the streets of Omaha. "When you are driving, you really don't even realize you are in a car that small. But driving downtown, if you catch your reflection in the windows of the big office buildings, you wonder where the rest of your car is."
"We tell people, 'Just don't look back.'"
I used to live just up the road from Castle Rock, CO. Nice area!
Can also be found here -
Are they 'Smart'? | Philly | 11/11/2008
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I think the green with paw prints is very clever and looks really nice.
The Beast
The Chick Magnet
1 - LT N FLFY
2 - Forests ride
3 - Little Blue
4 - Big Red
Yesterday, I read about the racoon hitting the smart! 
Today
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