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No the pickup isn't spectacular. It's a 4 cylinder engine and a small one. Total HP is somewhere around 90 *I think*. You don't buy this for power.

You truly are north american ;) There are cars sold in europe with half the Horse Power (think Smart or Lupo).

Smart cars are taking europe by storm. They look too small to be comfortable, but actually the front seats have as much room as any car. Since they are as short as a normal car is wide, you can park nose-in instead of parallel parking. Great gas mileage, totally practical.

Plenty of models mentioned on the smart website, too. And yes, you can pop off the panels and pop in new ones with different colors. Just like on the Saturn ION's strip above the doors, on better-executed.

You might have worked in your car before and your dad might be in the industry, but your argument is not very convincing at all.

All this talk of revolution, how does the consumer benefit?

Today, if I order a Merc in Germany, I already CAN chose from many different seat options (sports, elegant, leather, standard, whatever).

In fact I haven't yet heard an example of customization which is not already offered by the big European car manufacturers (other than those ugly Corvette bodywork mods).

There's limits to customization: a car design needs to be balanced. Also, of course you can define a "module seat" but you would have to define one for all different sizes of car. You cannot have the same seat options for an SUV and a sports car. And even so, for this lego approach to be a success you need numbers. I am sure GM sells more of one model than this car company will ever sell in total - so where are the gains.

A lego car assembled by different manufacturers? DaimlerChrysler is doing this for years now with their Smart car. Smart

Sorry, I really don't see anything new in this startup, far from revolutionary. I just hope the cars he builds are nice and consumers like it - because that's what sells cars, not customization.

They are however fairly expensive. When the project was started, the Smart was supposed to be priced at around 6 or 7000. They didn't manage to stick to that price though and they are priced around 14000 nowadays (twice as much, speak of a poorly planned business plan). Even so, they do have some very fun cars. I'll probably get one if my next job is too far to bicycle there. :)

They are however fairly expensive. When the project was started, the Smart was supposed to be priced at around 6 or 7000. They didn't manage to stick to that price though and they are priced around 14000 nowadays (twice as much, speak of a poorly planned business plan). Even so, they do have some very fun cars. I'll probably get one if my next job is too far to bicycle there. :)

(*) dependinf on if you are talking UK/US Gallon / Mile, which is of course why SI was invented in the first place.

The simplest solution is to buy an incredibly small car.

Don't Smart Cars do 80mpg? I am pretty sure that several compact cars make about this kind of fuel consumption. I agree with bruceholt. 80mpg? gee whizz... I thought the little pizza delivery bikes did much better than that, over 100mpg surely?

...when I saw this was to wonder why ESA was sending an automobile to the moon.

OMG!!! Europe is already so infested by Smarts that we are sending some on the Moon!!!

The article mentions a car that is already available which has full plastic parts. More info can be found at the Smart website. I drive one of these, and I have bumped into obstacles while parking several times. Unlike a metal body, the plastic panel just springs back into shape after a bump. With a metal body, it would have been damaged visibly.

Other Smart drivers reported that after a crash, the car had no visible damge while the invisible parts beneath the body panels had been damaged severely, but the robust body panel had been hiding the damage.

I can really recommend these cars. They are the ultimate opposite to an SUV. 2.49 m long (7.5 feet!), 695 kg gross weight, can turn on a dime... wonderful.

You ever thought this might be nice as a second car? Like the SUV to compensate for small penis/tits and this one for ones eco conscience. id prefer a smart anyway ... thats already a common car on european streets, especially in the bigger cities. "uses only half a parking space"

The current Smart, which is not officially avaialble in the US, will quite easily reach highway speeds. Available in both Diesel (90mpg!) and Petrol versions (~55mpg). You can get them chipped and de-limited, so they'll do over 100mph.

All come with a 6 speed sequential semi-automatic gearbox, ABS, traction control, airbags etc, and are as safe as a C Class Mercedes.

As a previous poster mentioned, a guy in Florida seems to be able to get them in. In the future, there will be Electric and Hybrid versions, as well as a sports car.

Kyoto is nothing more than another European inspired attempt at hobbling the United States and improving European competitive position. Europe, because of its much greater population density, needs less fuel than the US.

This is such a bullshit, that I can't resist. Europe isn't pushing the Kyoto protocol, because they want to "hobble" the US. Come on guys, it's not always about you... Europe is pushing Kyoto, because they actually care about the environment! What many Americans don't get is that environmental concerns are far more common and usual in Europe than in the US. And I'm not talking about environmental extremist. People DO care about pollution and the environment in general here. BY FAR more than in the US. (Yes, and I've been and worked in both places...)

Furthermore, its citizens already drive in tiny cars (due to extortionate fuel taxes and other laws)

Bullshit Nr. 2. Yes, people drive smaller cars. (I do, for sure.) But it's not only because of the fuel taxes and "other laws", but more because most Europeans don't feel the need to have two meters of steel around you. I (and no European I know) never understood the American affection for SUVs (especially in Texas. Why do you need all that trucks??). And people look for cars with high mileage not only because of the costs, but mainly because it's perceived as bad for the environment, if the car uses to much gas.
There's actually a lot of research going in this field. VW just presented the first one-liter-car (translates to about 230 miles per gallon) as a prototype.

and already suffer a much higher traffic death rate per mile.

Would you care to back this claim with some official numbers?

It's funny, because here in Europe smart cars are considered sexy...

Brits/Europeans drive cars like the Smart and Polo, which are quick, economical and aethetically pleasing. Neither of which will sell in America. Yanks drive LandYachts like Excursion and Suburban, which are slow, inefficient eyesores. With far too much chrome. Sound familiar?

You're absolutly right: I don't understand that! I've been to Austin in january and will be there for the next three months and I've seen all those SUVs. Here in Germany I drive a MCC Smart, a car that is 2.5m long and 1.5m wide and that fits in every parking space (will be available in america next year IIRC). Those kind of cars are becoming quite popular here.
Okay, you don't have too like small cars, but why is it, that americans have to have all these big off-roader and pickups? They're loud, don't fit into parking spaces, cost a lot and suck gas faster than you can refuel...
As you said, I don't understand. That was one of the mysteries about the US remaining unlifted for me during my stay there...