Smart For-Us Truck – Cute or Viable?
The 2012 North American International Show will showcase many new concept vehicles. Standing out from the competition is the Smart For-Us manufactured by Daimler’s small car manufacturer, Smart. The Smart For-Us is billed as the world’s smallest pickup truck and measures in at only 11.6 feet in length.
An electric pickup truck that can
This electric vehicle may not provide all of the power consumers are looking for in a pickup truck. American drivers are used to pickup trucks with high horsepower and over-sized beds. The Smart For-Us has a 75 horsepower engine and the bed is only capable of holding two bicycles, if the tailgate is down and the front wheels have been removed from their forks.
While the Smart For-Us will clearly never work on a farm or in many rural situations, it may be the ideal truck for an urban shopper. The truck will easily fit into small parking spaces and in parking garages with a low clearance. The electric vehicle will eliminate the need for filling up at a gas station, which is increasingly becoming more and more expensive.
A two-seater with enough cargo space to carry a bicycle, it isn't your normal truck.
Some customers will be drawn to the vehicle with it’s rounded lines and futuristic design. However, ecologically-conscious consumers are clearly the target market for the Smart For-Us…assuming of course it’s built someday.
Most likely, this is just a concept.
What do you think – would Smart be able to sell a truck like this?
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This is actually nice. I hope that it actually comes to market. My parents drive smarts — nice little diesel powered city cars. I do end up loaning them my pickup from time to time, to move around things like… dishwashers, stoves, etc. From the pictures, it does look like you could move things like that, probably even a fridge. It looks like the bed extends outwards when the tailgate goes down in order to accommodate longer objects. As long as the thing is wide enough to fit appliances, it will be useful.
As long as it has a decent range and doesn’t take too long to recharge (or is also available in a DIESEL version with a range at least 400 km), I think it would be an IDEAL next vehicle for them.