If you’re in the market for a new car and don’t fancy a road-hogging 4×4, then perhaps the Smart car is the one for you. Part of the Daimler AG brand, the Smart car is a form of microcar created in Hambach in France and Bobligen in Germany. You might not know this about the logo, but it shows a grey ‘c’ and a yellow arrow, this is to represent ‘compact’ and the arrow is to symbolise forward thinking. Designs for the run-around car began in the 1980s when Nicholas Hayek of SMH began to explore ideas for a smaller form of car, as the CEO of Swatch he felt that the industry hadn’t catered for a small and funky car, much like his company’s approach to watch-making.

It was in 1991 that Hayek shared his ideas with Volkswagen and the Smart car began the idea of concept stage development. The first idea was to create a car that ran on a three-litre fuel tank, consuming three litres per 100km driven. Hayek decided to seek support from other companies and offered his Swatchmobile project to other car manufacturers. A number of car companies rejected his designs, but Daimler-Benz AG (a subsidiary of Mercedez-Benz) decided to take it on in 1994. They began to develop concept cars that would become the first real designs for the Smart car. Read the rest of this entry »