[asalazar]

When I leased my Smart last year I did understanding that Smart may or may not last long in the USA. With the switch to electric only and all the dealers understandably not participating it makes one wonder the viability. Nonetheless I'm glad I got my Smart when I did. Thinking forwards to the next three years I had wondered what I would do when the lease was up, will Smart be around, are there other city cars available?

I was watching a youtube show called Fully Charged and they showed a prototype for a Honda city car that was going into production next year. Going to be available in Europe and Japan, no word on North America.

I'm totally smitten with this car, sort of a mix of a first generation Civic and VW Golf.

Interior, nice looking but I do like bucket seats better.

Here is a 20 minute video detailing the the car. The sportier version is still an early prototype and is not committed to production.

There isn't much like the Smart, maybe the Fiat 500e and even this Honda is bigger but still a nice size.

 

[ElementalDragon]

Yea.... i was understandably a bit miffed when i heard that gasoline ForTwo's were no longer going to be imported into the US. They are by far my favorite cars to drive. I used to have a 2009 Brabus ForTwo Coupe, which i absolutely LOVED. Stupidly traded that in on a 2013 Dodge Dart Rallye with a 1.4L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. Had nothing but problems with that car, and after eventually getting a bit of money back from Chrysler because of said issues, traded that in on my now 2016 ForTwo Prime Coupe.... and love driving it as well. If this car ever keels over on me, I can honestly say that i have absolutely no idea what car i'd even attempt to replace it with. I mean... a Tesla Model 3 would be my ideal car.... but the $30,000+ price tag is one thing.... and the long wait is another. Model S would be nice, too, but that price though.

I just don't think any other car could give me the same level of joy that i have driving a ForTwo.

And i just noticed... it looks a bit odd with that Honda having a display on the door panel.

 

[asalazar]

I don't know if this Honda is going to be a gas car, if I understand it correctly it's been designed from the ground up as an electric.

 

[10470]

The design inspiration was the N600, not the Civic!

Honda’s first concept of that has evolved into this cheeky car was a mega-hit with the crowds a couple of years ago.

The interior is fantastic (including the bench seat, IMO)! The whole thing gets a thumbs way up.

Best part is that it doesn’t utilize Honda’s latest chaotic and gimmicky origami design language.

 

[asalazar]

Best part is that it doesn’t utilize Honda’s latest chaotic and gimmicky origami design language.

That's one of the details that the host of Fully Charged discusses with the designer of the car in the video I linked. And I agree, it's understated in just the right way.

 

[ElementalDragon]

To be honest, if it gets decent range (that being something more reasonable than the 453 ED's), it'd probably be a huge seller. Something i might even consider.... and i've never owned a Honda.

 

[Xclusive]

It's cool but I don't see that making production any time soon.

 

[asalazar]

It's cool but I don't see that making production any time soon.

It's going on sale in Europe in 2019 according to Honda.

 

[10470]

With bench seats and flat floors, it could potentially be made into the smallest 6-seater on the market, with just a 153” footprint.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Remember, smart was preemptively killing ICE sales in the USA. By 2020, smart will no longer sell any ICE vehicles anywhere in the world. The EQ fortwo will be our new king. No word yet on what will happen to the 453 ED though. It may end up being short lived. Or smart may pull an Apple and sell the new product alongside the old product.

 

[halfcack]

I had a used Honda two door hatchback in the early seventies that was smaller the Smart.

It had a manual transmission and a two banger horizontal mortorcycle engine in it. It was really fast off the line. It was a really faded red and would hold all the instruments I needed to play a gig, all keyboards.

No air, but it did have a heater.

It was explained to me by a car engineer to the racers friend, the reason it's so fast, both cylinders fire at the same time. What a car.

I drove it until it wouldn’t back up anymore.

I looked for upcoming models and prototypes yesterday. At 22 to 33 g's, I don’t know how the Smart will be around when my lease is up, two years from now.

I read some articles from CES and saw a lot of proto's. Unfortunately that is where they stay, a one off. The Honda scooter looked great though.

There are so many vaporcars out there right now I couldn’t count them. Doing more research, they just aren’t in the realm of possibility. No mention even on the big guy's sites. Nissan said they would have 22 new electrics?

They all announced they were going to all electric. I doubt if is that's sustainable. Is 33,000$ reasonable for an all option Smart. How about 25,000$ for a Pure ED?

There isn’t another electric out there for me. I made another try last week. One dealer called and a witch from Covina. Both wanted to take my Smart in, pay for the shipping for both, under 20,000.

What just one came back with was way too high. Including the 2015 ED. The price started good but rose quickly.

I don’t know. My try last year soured me to the present. Now I’m all soured up again.

 

[eloder]

Remember, smart was preemptively killing ICE sales in the USA. By 2020, smart will no longer sell any ICE vehicles anywhere in the world. The EQ fortwo will be our new king. No word yet on what will happen to the 453 ED though. It may end up being short lived. Or smart may pull an Apple and sell the new product alongside the old product.

Is there any good information on the EQ fortwo? I haven't really heard much about it.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

So far as I can tell from MB’s tight lips on the project:

They want the new car to launch somewhere around 2020. It’s supposed to be a self-driving EV that will roam around the city, shuttling passengers. It’s basically the Google autonomous car meets an extreme version of Car2Go. There really haven’t been many other details revealed.

Do you get to own it? Will there be an option for manual control? What happens to the 453? Range? How much of this will even make it to production?

Of course, the answers to those questions will trickle down. Though, MB has given one concrete answer: Starting in 2020 smart will no longer sell any ICE, anywhere. The ICE 453 will have a short run, being in production for a maximum of 5 years. Thankfully the 453 twins were a joint venture with Renault/Nissan, or I’d be shaking my head right now.

 

[MB DNA]

MB has given one concrete answer: Starting in 2020 smart will no longer sell any ICE, anywhere. The ICE 453 will have a short run, being in production for a maximum of 5 years.

Thankfully the 453 twins were a joint venture with Renault/Nissan, or I’d be shaking my head right now.

Or, now we better understand that the Joint Venture had a longer range "purpose" than we could have imagined.

The Dino fueled world as we and our parents knew it is undergoing a metamorphosis of major proportion.

For an "old school" car guy/girl could be a major hurdle?

 

[smark]

The design inspiration was the N600, not the Civic!

Honda’s first concept of that has evolved into this cheeky car was a mega-hit with the crowds a couple of years ago.

The interior is fantastic (including the bench seat, IMO)! The whole thing gets a thumbs way up.

Best part is that it doesn’t utilize Honda’s latest chaotic and gimmicky origami design language.

Wrong. Honda bases the new concept EV off the first Civic. There’s a Honda You Tube clip of it.

https://youtu.be/IhQHnQWEX3Q

The N One, is based off the N 600. A ICE car.

 

[10470]

Wrong. Honda bases the new concept EV off the first Civic.

The Civic (1973 - present) was Honda’s derivative successor to the N360/N600 model (1967-1972). The Civic shared a direct evolution of philosophy and design language with its predecessor. Honda has repeatedly (during the past decade) gone back to the N360/N600 for modern design inspirations, rather than to the subsequent and arguably more design-diluted Civic.

Yet, since the N600 never became as well-known as the Civic (now in production for ~35 years), it is wise for Honda not to discourage the fact-challenged media from pegging Honda’s new EV concept to the original Civic rather than its more accurate N600 predecessor.

Since 2009: Honda has been kicking around a retro-styled EV based on the N360/N600’s design language, called the EV-N at that time. Honda believes that retro cues make for a broader appeal with a small-sized EV, and with a space-efficient boxy format much like MINI has used to great efficiency.

https://www.motor1.com/news/17857/honda-ev-n-concept-pre-tokyo-motor-show-reveal/

Note that Honda has also produced modern N-based 4-door, pickup truck, and SUV variants. Honda’s basic ‘N’ design has extensive room for cheeky innovation and broad mass-market appeal, much as when it spawned the 1973 Civic.

 

[halfcack]

The Honda pictured was close but I’ve never been able to find a pic of it anywhere. The length, width and height were so small, I really loved that car.

It was a box. Short nose because of the laid over two opting cylinder motorcycle engine, the back was enormous, i have some pics but too many to go through to find them. I was six feet, gravity now has shortened me up too. I towered over it. I want to say hip but more like lower chest high.

Four speed. I’ve have great luck with Honda’s. Looking back. I had one of the first CRX's in the country by some fluke. None to little storage, blocked by a storage area plastic cover. Essentially a two seater with less room than a smart but leg room you’d find in a large car.

0-80 in a remarkable short length of time. I had it 15 days before it was totaled. The cabin stayed together even when sideways underneath the back wheels of a tractor trailer with the highest wheels allowed, chewing up the cabin while horizontally being pushed by them, breaking free, doing a few 360's which allowed me to chase down the trucker.

 

[halfcack]

The Brabus 2018 Smart claiming a 200 HP equivalent electric motor sounds great. Certainly able to decimate any street car. They are enquiring if anyone would be interested, need I say yes.

I don’t know anything about the company only the work, top shelf. Are they solo or part of MB and how do you contact them?

 

[smark]

The Civic (1973 - present) was Honda’s derivative successor to the N360/N600 model (1967-1972). The Civic shared a direct evolution of philosophy and design language with its predecessor. Honda has repeatedly (during the past decade) gone back to the N360/N600 for modern design inspirations, rather than to the subsequent and arguably more design-diluted Civic.

Yet, since the N600 never became as well-known as the Civic (now in production for ~35 years), it is wise for Honda not to discourage the fact-challenged media from pegging Honda’s new EV concept to the original Civic rather than its more accurate N600 predecessor.

Since 2009: Honda has been kicking around a retro-styled EV based on the N360/N600’s design language, called the EV-N at that time. Honda believes that retro cues make for a broader appeal with a small-sized EV, and with a space-efficient boxy format much like MINI has used to great efficiency.

https://www.motor1.com/news/17857/honda-ev-n-concept-pre-tokyo-motor-show-reveal/

Note that Honda has also produced modern N-based 4-door, pickup truck, and SUV variants. Honda’s basic ‘N’ design has extensive room for cheeky innovation and broad mass-market appeal, much as when it spawned the 1973 Civic.

Base on the retro stying of the first generation Civic. Straight from Honda, and the designer who pin the EV concept.

 

[10470]

You missed my point, but this may be of interest:

https://www.motor1.com/news/180445/honda-urban-ev-concept-design/