>> smart@www smart-newsarchive

Driving pleasure has nothing to do with horsepower.
Don’t waste time, don’t be late for heaven’s sake, never come in last... can’t a person simply arrive when he wants to? And how much horsepower does one need to do that?

The internet auction of the smart™ crossblade with the number 0001 finished on Monday bringing proceeds of 51.049,99 euro. The sum raised for the car, which also carries Robbie Williams' original signature, will be donated to the international entertainer's charity "Give It Sum!”.

The aim of Robbie Williams' charity is to give disadvantaged people a chance to improve their immediate environment and community. In the first place the charity supports local groups where the people involved also understand the problems of others. The work of "Give it Sum!” concentrates on North Staffordshire, the area Robbie Williams comes from. In future there are plans to support other regions, both in Great Britain and elsewhere in the world.

The smart™ crossblade has been available from this month and is offered for sale throughout Europe at the same net price of 21.000 euro. A maximum of 2.000 of the open two-seater, which is recent proof of the innovative power of the smart™ brand and its cars, will be produced in the next few years. The cars are consecutively numbered in order to underline their exclusiveness.

The most beautiful car park in the world: the smart city coupé in the MoMA.

On display in the opening exhibition "AUTObodies: speed, sport, transport" in the gallery of the MoMA QNS, from 29.06. to 16.09.2002.

MCC smart and Robbie Williams are auctioning the smart crossblade no. 0001 which is a 2000 limited version. Proceeds will go to the Robbie Williams charity "Give It Sum!".

Robbie Williams is the first official owner of one of the 2,000 smart™ crossblade. At the offi-cial handover on 18 April 2002 in Hamburg, the international entertainer will get the car with the number 0008, as specially requested by him. “Wow, I just love this car. It’s innovative and unconventional, the two main qualities I look for in new projects”, says Robbie Williams on his new smart™ crossblade.

The association between the Micro Compact Car smart™ GmbH and the British entertainer started in December 2001 – with the premiere of the film No-body Someday. “Robbie Williams seems to embody our target group’s joyous attitude to life and the image of our brand. We are very happy to have him as our first smart™ crossblade customer,” says Andreas Renschler, President of MCC smart™.

MCC smart™ is auctioning off the smart™ crossblade 0001 - information on www.smart™.com and www.robbie-williams.com. Proceeds will go to the Robbie Williams charity “Give It Sum!”. Everyone except the highest bidder will have to wait until June 2002, when there will be a maximum of 2,000 smart™ crossblade available from smart™ dealers, worldwide.

“Give It Sum!” is Robbie Williams’ charity for tackling poverty and promoting social justice. As Robbie says, "I'm starting in Stoke-on-Trent, my home town. It's not an area you'd immediately think of, but it's become pretty depressed lately with high unemployment and worsening poverty. I'd like to give people both young and old (and those in between) a chance to do something for themsel-ves."

“Give It Sum!” aims to give disadvantaged people a chance to improve local conditions and strengthen community life. Priority is given to groups that are run by local people rather than professional organisations. The Charity has tar-geted work in North Staffordshire as this is Rob-bie’s home town area, but, in the future, it is likely that other areas will benefit - both in the UK and elsewhere in the world.

the 7th smart Center of the Netherlands has now been opened in Geleen (limburg).

Vehicle has no roof, doors or conventional windscreen. no limits for your freedom. Get in if you want to get out.

Under the motto 'Sfaste true the city' smart has sponsired the rotterdam marathon for the second time.

The 22th Fortis Marathon of Rotterdam is gona be held on sunday the 21th of april. Just like last year the smart are driving in front of the runners field as klock cars, the marathon is counting this year 10.000 runners. through a big clock on the roof, the smart are displaying the current time. also along the parcours there are standing differt smarts; on every five kilometerpoint and on the end of every half marathon.

Micro Compact Car smart GmbH (Renningen) and Brabus GmbH (Bottrop) have announced a joint venture called smart-Brabus GmbH. Each parent company will hold a 50 percent share in the company to be established.

The purpose of the company is to develop and produce custom components for cars, based on the smart City-Coupé and smart Cabrio, and also future model lines of the smart brand. smart-BRABUS GmbH will upgrade the equipment packages of the respective model lines - to start with for the City-Coupé and the Cabrio.

The "1st edition", which will be offered for sale through the smart sales partners, is a first example of the achievement potential of this joint venture.

On 7 march the Geneva auto show is beginning. A visit to the international car show is worth it (specially the smart stand!)

Micro Compact Car smart GmbH (Renningen, Germany) and Brabus GmbH (Bottrop, Germany) have signed a memorandum of understanding declaring their intention to found a joint company called smart-Brabus GmbH. Each parent company will hold a 50 percent share in the company to be established.

The purpose of the company is to develop and produce custom components for cars, based on the smart City-Coupé and smart Cabrio, and also future model lines of the smart brand. smart-Brabus GmbH will upgrade the equipment packages of the respective model lines - to start with for the City-Coupé and the Cabrio. This means that in addition to the smart & pure, smart & pulse and smart & passion, a top line, limited special models and exclusive equipment and accessory packages will be offered.

The cars will combine the character of the smart & pulse as a sporty variant and the smart & passion as a comfort variant and further upgrade them. This gives customers an opportunity to drive a smart model with both additional engine power and also with exclusive equipment.

Look at the smart city-coupe and you will see how the different glance- or better said his new headlights - is now more attractive! That's not all. because the city-coupe has got other details that have been modified. But mostly it are the small things that does it.

He hasn't got doors to put on advertisement - but it's still a smart. This is the crossblade, which can be seen on the Geneva auto show.

During the salon of Brussels smart is going to present the model program for the year 2002 for the first time. The most effective changes are the facelift of the city-coupe and the bigger gasoline tank.

Micro Compact Car smart GmbH has concluded 2001 with the best results since the launch of the smart in October 1998. The almost 14 percent increase to the number of cars sold and exceeding a turnover of 1 billion euro are further milestones in reaching the planned break-even in 2004.

Andreas Renschler, chairman of the management board at MCC smart says that "Growing customer interest in our products, the professionalism of the distribution channel and the creativity and motivation of the smart employees have led to this pleasing result".

Last year the markets with the strongest sales were again Germany (46,705) and Italy (30,031), followed by France (8,738) and Switzerland (6,131). Double-digit growth rates were achieved in Holland (16.9 percent), Italy (16.1 percent), Austria (14.6 percent) and Spain (13.8 percent).

The Premiere of the Robbie Williams film on Thursday December 6th marks just the start of an association between Robbie Williams and Micro Compact Car smart™ GmbH. The film about Robbie is a very honest, funny account of life on the road with the entertainer. Philipp Schiemer, Marketing and Sales Director at Micro Compact Car smart™ GmbH says that “The surprising and amusing perspective of the film exactly matches the positio-ning of MCC smart™ as a company and also the smart™ cars. We make cars which in our customers’ opinion also stand for a zestful lifestyle”.

This first event, where smart™ is the exclusive title sponsor, will be followed by further activities, to be announced, next year.

Micro Compact Car smart™ GmbH has already reached the sales volume achieved last year. After selling approximately 102,000 cars last year, between January and November 27th 2001 103,547 smart™ City-Coupés and smart™ Cabrios were sold.

In addition to the sale of more than 21,778 smart™ Cabrios, the sales figure increase is above all based on the success of the smart™ with a diesel engine: last year 20,641 smart™s with common-rail direct injection (cdi) were sold. 25,016 cars have already been sold since the beginning of this year, corresponding to an increase of more than 21 percent.

Philipp Schiemer, Marketing & Sales director at MCC smart™ says that: “Given the difficult market situation at present, this result is above all due to our customers’ enthusiasm and the excellent work of our sales partners. In addition to our most important markets Germany and Italy, the sales increase in France is an especially pleasing result. We are certain that we will reach our target of a ten percent sales increase by the end of this year.”

smart at Frankfurt (IAA Frankfurt 2001)

A look forward at the extension to the product range

At the exhibition site forum of the International Motor Show in Frankfurt (IAA) smart is giving visitors a forward look at the extension to the product range.


	Concept car smart tridion4

In addition to the cars which are available today, and a few special models planned for the near future, at the IAA the company is presenting the smart tridion4 show car for the first time. This shows the potential of the brand and makes it clear that a car with four seats and five doors can also have all the typical features of a smart.


Alternative drive concept smart hyper

In addition to this, smart is showing an alternative drive concept called smart hyper. The combination of a diesel engine and an electric motor enables a further noticeable reduction to fuel consumption and emission values compared with a conventional drive.

With "smart webmove" smart is presenting a further extension to the mobile internet access concept. At the IAA MCC smart is the first car manufacturer to integrate a Smartphone in a car, combining all the functions of a mobile phone and an organiser in one piece of equipment.

smart at the 71st International Geneva Motor Show 2001

At the 71st Automobilsalon in Geneva, the Micro Compact Car smart GmbH (MCC smart) will be presenting the study of an open leisure car uncompromisingly designed for blue skies and high spirits. The fun car is an unconventional vehicle which goes by the name of "smart crossblade".

In presenting this study, MCC's design engineers are demonstrating the broad scope of diversity harboured by the smart concept. The concept car does without a roof, doors and a conventional windscreen. Crossblade drivers cruise along in the open air, enjoying the bracing breeze in their face.

The "smart crossblade" appeals to active people for whom fitness and dynamism are indispensable attributes of their leisure pursuits. The car is intended to provide these drivers with an exhilarating feeling of motion such as they can otherwise only experience with rollers under their shoes - on roller blades or skateboards.

At the motor show in Paris (28.09. to 15.10.2000) Micro Compact Car smart™ GmbH will for the first time present the "showcar smart™ coupé". The sporty two-seater is based on the smart™ roadster which was presented at the IAA in Frankfurt, and also has a SUPREX turbo engine, rear-wheel drive, and sequential six-speed manual transmission.

As with the smart™ roadster which will come on the market in 2003, the main focus of the study is also on the modular design which is unique to smart™. The overall impression is thus above all characterized by the typical smart™ two-tone, which particularly emphasizes the TRIDION safety cell as a design element.

Limited special model with exclusive equipment
· Body panels with special river silver metallic paintwork
· Light-alloy wheels with a gloss finish, and bicolour rear lamps
· Leather trim in indigo blue

The new special model called the smart™ edition silverstyle is now available throughout Europe as a limited edition of only 1,700 cars. It is not only the two emblems affixed under the two side mirrors that reveal the name of the exclusively equipped car, but also the silver TRIDION safety cell, side mirrors and rear lamps. Moreover the body panels are painted in exclusive river silver metallic.

The sportline design light-alloy wheels of the smart™ silverstyle have a glossy finish. The rear lamps with a bicolour appearance are red and white. The yellow light of the flasher lamps is produced by a coloured spherical cap above the flasher bulb. The car interior is characterized by indigo blue leather trim, which covers the steering wheel and gearshift knob as well as the seats. Matching contrast components, and seat backs, gleam in silver.

At a price of 22.650 DM (11.580,76 EUR) the smart™ edition silverstyle offers an attractive equipment package including air conditioning, an analogue clock, tachometer, velour floor mats and preparation for hands-free conversation equipment. The radio with cassette deck includes a sound system comprising of two-way speakers with separate bass reflex boxes for the bass speakers, and an external crossover filter.