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Sandown Motors smart |
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Services Offered
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Sales
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Service
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Parts
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Pre-Owned
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SMART Car History
| ''smart'' (short for Swatch Mercedes ART, sometimes called the ''MCC smart'') is a brand of microcar based in Böblingen. The original smart was a very small two-seater, but a coupé convertible and hatchback have been added, extending the brand into a true marque, part of DaimlerChrysler as Micro Compact Car GmbH. The company name was changed to '''smart GmbH''' in September 2002. |
| The smart fortwo is manufactured at Smartville, a purpose-built factory complex in Hambach, Lorraine France, established in 1994 as a joint-venture of Daimler AG and the Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch. |
| The project was originally supported by Swatch, and was nicknamed the "Swatchmobile". The car was supposed to use innovative features (such as a hybrid engine) and to be an affordable car for young people. Its purpose was to "transport two people and a case of beer" (later replaced by a case of water). |
| Being inexperienced in automobiles, Swatch CEO Nicolas Hayek sought an established car maker to produce his Swatch car, and found a partner in Volkswagen. Plans never reached a final stage so Swatch teamed up with Daimler-Benz. The car proved to be far from expectations: technology was conventional and it was more expensive than most small 4-seater cars sold in Europe. The joint venture experienced heavy losses and Swatch pulled out. |
| In 2005, Daimler AG decided against purchasing a 50% share in the NedCar plant used to manufacture the forfour. Daimler also halted development on the forfour and decided to discontinue production of the smart Roadster. |
Information courtesy of Duttondirect
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