Smart builds "Smart House" in Venice Beach
As part of the promotions leading up to the US sales launch of the Smart ForTwo next January, the US distributor has converted a Venice Beach CA building into a Smart House. The interior of the Smart house is designed to evoke the lifestyles of the the primary purchasers of the Smart: young urban hipsters, whatever the hell that means. The main goal of the house is of course to sell cars and so visitors will be able to check out four of them on the inside with more outside available for test drives. There are more details on the Smart house after the jump including the address and hours.
[Source: Smart USA]
SMART house:
Venice Beach/Los Angeles, CA. An exclusive studio building on Abbot Kinney Boulevard will be transformed into the "smart house" for four months starting October 11, 2007, serving as the springboard for the US market launch of the smart car. smart has begun preparations in the heart of the hip Venice Beach district, setting up a temporary showroom to demonstrate to customers, journalists and VIPs that the smart fortwo is much more than just an economical, compact, and safe automobile.
"The smart house will present the world and lifestyle of a typical smart driver and convey the intrinsic values of this unique city car, showing visitors that bigger is not always better," says Anders Sundt Jensen, responsible for brand management at smart. "We are putting forward a very personalized brand image, from the interior design to the presentation of the favorite leisure activities of smart drivers and their attitudes to topics like the environment," continues Jensen.
As well as portraying the vibe of the smart generation, the smart house will also provide product information. Prospective buyers can receive consultation, configure their own smart and take a test drive. Four smart fortwos will be on display inside the house. In the lively Venice Beach district, it will soon become clear that the smart fortwo loves cities and cities love smart – few other cars in the US are getting as much attention as the smart fortwo is right now.
Trendsetters can reserve their very own smart fortwo on the spot. And they are in good company; over 30,000 Americans have already reserved a fortwo on the company's website.
There will be a great deal of hustle and bustle in the smart house too. Events relating to the areas of environment and climate protection, music, fashion, fine arts and zeitgeist will fill the smart house from top to bottom, making it a platform for the brand's lifestyle. The special events will include an unplugged concert by Piers Faccini, and Californian artist Joel Tauber will exhibit his works on the topic of environment and sustainability.
This project will see smart build on its growing affinity for the arts and the pulse of the age. Since 1998, smart has worked in close collaboration with musicians, fashion designers and artists. Since its inception, smart has been inseparably linked with innovation, the development of new ideas and unconventional ways of thinking. It is these principles that smart is looking to export to the US before the official sales launch in January 2008.
The smart house on Abbot Kinney Boulevard 1319, Venice Beach, Los Angeles California is open from 11 October 2007 to 25 January 2008; Tuesdays to Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
stevejust 8:15PM (10/11/2007)
I'm going to drive down there this weekend in my 2004 Civic Hybrid that has four doors (i.e., is one whole car rather than a little half-car) and gets noticably better gas mileage than the Smart, and ask them why the !@#$% can't they make the thing get 60 mpg. If they got 60 mpg, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. But I think that MPG in the "40s" is atrocious for something that small.
And I have a roof rack for two mountain bikes on my Civic... and... I just don't understand... why... a Geo Metro could get 50 mpg, and the Smart gets less.
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Joseph 10:50PM (10/11/2007)
Stevejust,
The Geo Metros are rated at about 40mpg overall and about 45 on the highway.
Now, a Geo Metro XFI achieved about 45mpg overall, and about 50mpg on the highway.
These are the new realistic 2008 EPA ratings I'm refering to.
Now, both of the cars weight about the same. The reason why the smaller Smart weighs as much as the Geo Metro is probably because of the host of safety features that come along with every Smart. So, the weight is the same, but the big difference is horsepower. The regular Geo Metro had about 55 hp! This is ~ 30% smaller than the Smart which has 71 horsepower! It's like the difference a four cylinder and six cylinder engine. (I must admit that both cars have the same engine displacement. However, I am pretty sure that higher engine output, even on an engine of the same size, still affects fuel-economy considerably, unless the highwer engine ouput is because of a turbo charger.)
The XFI was even worse at just 49hp. The Geos did 0-60 in something like 15 seconds!
The Smart is supposed to get something like mid-forties mpg, which is the same as the Geo Metro of essentially the same weight, yet has alot more power. I'm pretty sure what they're giving is a realistic number since the car is going to be realsed in the 2008 model year, which is when all new cars must have the new mpg ratings.
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mike 11:19PM (10/11/2007)
When's the Smart Hybrid coming?
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Mirko 1:31AM (10/12/2007)
@mike:
Which smart hybrid? Smart mhd (micro hybrid with the 71hp gasser) is already out, smart mhd cdi (same, just with the diesel, 80 mpg rating) outr next year, a full hybrid is also planned.
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GoodCheer 10:33AM (10/12/2007)
stevejust:
Rock on Civics. I have a '98 HX (the high mileage version from the pre-hybrid era, new EPA rating 30/39). Like you I have roofracks, and have carried 8 sheets of 3/4" plywood up there, or three bikes, or 4 snowboards. Unlike the roofracks on the 'SUV's some of my friends drive, my 110# girlfriend can put her bike on the rack by herself cause it's only 5' up. I also have a small trailer on which I've carried 4 kayaks, two couches, a motorcycle etc.. Loading heavy stuff at knee level makes me wonder how anybody ever does anything useful with a pickup truck.
My lifetime MPG is about 37. My average so far in 2007 is about 41 (I'm hardly a hypermiler, but I've been trying to drive smoothly). Towing my motorcycle on the highway I get about 30. Maybe my driving is 'unrealistic', but I do live on the east coast, do drive during winter, get stuck in traffic etc.. A small 2-seater with 44 fewer hp would be a really tough sell to me unless it significantly improved my mileage... well, they are awfully cute...
All this is to say a) Civics rock and b) why isn't the Smart getting 60 mpg? c) would I get 60 in the Smart if I get 40 in the Civic?
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Vse 3:44PM (10/12/2007)
The official EPA figures are not even released yet.
The Smart is not a hybrid. You're comparing your Civic hybrid that runs on gasoline motor strictly less than 100% of the time. The Smart runs on gasoline 100% of the time. So what gives?
The Smart is a gasoline car at the end of the day. For a 1.0L 3-cylinder motor that needs to carry two full-sized adults around town in a SAFE cabin and with all the other safety features your Civic has, is still pretty amazing to me. There are a lot of variables to play around with when designing a car. As of now, this is the perfect balance for the smart car. They could have gone full carbon fiber with another $10k. Who knows.
Also bear with me on this. A Civic hybrid with 2 150lb persons weigh about 2900 + 300 lbs = 3200lb? You have about 100hp. That gives us a weight to power ratio of 32. The Smart weighs 1600 + 300 = 1900 lbs with 71hp. The ratio is about 26. I can bet with you if your civic hybrid runs ONLY on gasoline, it will have a worst MPG than the Smart.
That being said, the size of the Smart is the key selling point here. From what I can tell, pple who buy Smart see it as a compact little cool car that moves quickly around in the city. The MPG factor is just a nice convenience that accompanies the Smart.
Besides pple who buy Smart isn't buying it as their first and only car. More than likely, it's a second or third car (4th for me). So the "it doesn't have a 4-door" argument doesn't apply here.
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ug 7:30PM (10/12/2007)
They are targetting the right budget demo, but would the ecologically-minded live in an area that will probably be underwater in the next decade or two?
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ray 8:51PM (10/17/2007)
it is a very cool looking car, i've been looking at it for the last two years. however, it's not nearly as cool as the same size battery powered car coming from Norway called the "think city" ...have a look. 0-60 in only 4 sec. and 112 miles per charge. Brin and Page are investors... Ray in Venice, CA
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