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Kraftwagen König
Some recent comments by smart's VP of development: 
Electric Drive, Renault Engines, CVT All Part Of Smart Five-Year Outlook
By Bengt Halvorson | The Car Connection
The other part of the expansion is the possibility of recasting the Fortwo as an electric model. Arriving this October, the Smart Electric Drive is still a testbed, with only 1,500 cars to be sold globally through 2011. But for model-year 2013 the Electric Drive will become a mass-production reality. Whether that means another 10,000 or 12,000 vehicles, or whether smart decides to build 100,000 of these vehicles remains to be seen, said Derek Kaufman, Smart’s VP of development, and depends on the kind of reception it gets from the public.
In a first drive of the Smart Electric Drive, we pronounced it more enjoyable to drive than the standard gasoline Smart Fortwo.
Minicar realities aside (and Smart is good at dispelling those with incredible space efficiency), the Smart’s powertrain—including its unpredictable, sometimes harsh-shifting automated manual transmission—have been the cause of many complaints.
Kaufman said that a lot of the issue was with the term “automated manual.” As soon as smart insisted that dealerships use the term “manual transmission that is self-shifting,” the number of complaints and negative comments significantly dropped.
Regardless, Kaufman hinted, the brand will reap the benefits of the recently announced partnership between Daimler and Renault-Nissan—meaning that we'll likely see a version of a Renault or Nissan minicar engine in the next-gen Smart, along with a Nissan-provided CVT.
Electric Drive, Renault Engines, CVT All Part Of Smart Five-Year Outlook - The Car Connection
Electric Drive, Renault Engines, CVT All Part Of Smart Five-Year Outlook
By Bengt Halvorson | The Car Connection
The other part of the expansion is the possibility of recasting the Fortwo as an electric model. Arriving this October, the Smart Electric Drive is still a testbed, with only 1,500 cars to be sold globally through 2011. But for model-year 2013 the Electric Drive will become a mass-production reality. Whether that means another 10,000 or 12,000 vehicles, or whether smart decides to build 100,000 of these vehicles remains to be seen, said Derek Kaufman, Smart’s VP of development, and depends on the kind of reception it gets from the public.
In a first drive of the Smart Electric Drive, we pronounced it more enjoyable to drive than the standard gasoline Smart Fortwo.
Minicar realities aside (and Smart is good at dispelling those with incredible space efficiency), the Smart’s powertrain—including its unpredictable, sometimes harsh-shifting automated manual transmission—have been the cause of many complaints.
Kaufman said that a lot of the issue was with the term “automated manual.” As soon as smart insisted that dealerships use the term “manual transmission that is self-shifting,” the number of complaints and negative comments significantly dropped.
Regardless, Kaufman hinted, the brand will reap the benefits of the recently announced partnership between Daimler and Renault-Nissan—meaning that we'll likely see a version of a Renault or Nissan minicar engine in the next-gen Smart, along with a Nissan-provided CVT.
Electric Drive, Renault Engines, CVT All Part Of Smart Five-Year Outlook - The Car Connection
