The German premium carmaker is in a dilemma about the European Commission's call for an average fleet CO2 figure of 130g/km. Audi, BMW and Mercedes have no chance of meeting this with their top-heavy ranges but need to be seen to be improving fuel consumption and CO2 output.
BMW has moved quickly and is fitting what it calls Efficiency Dynamics across its model range. From this autumn even the entry-level Mini will have stop-start technology and regenerative braking to charge the car's battery. Symbolically this is important as it reduces the CO2 figure for the diesel Mini Cooper D to 104g/km – the same as the Toyota Prius.
Mercedes has for some time had the CO2 champion – the Smart ForTwo Diesel (88g/km) but this is a desperately slow device and the UK could not justify offering it with right-hand drive.
In the second half of next year Smart UK will introduce a stop-start system with the 52kW (71bhp) petrol-engined model. It calls this MHD, meaning Micro Hybrid Drive, but it is not really a hybrid, simply a way of saving fuel by cutting the engine when the car is at a standstill and restarting as the brake is released. MHD uses a belt-driven starter-generator like the Stop-Start models from Citroen. There is no regenerative braking.
I tried the Smart MHD and it works fine, even if the re-starts of the three-cylinder engine are rather lumpy and noisy.
Smart claims a 13 per cent improvement in urban fuel economy and 8 per cent overall which seems realistic. The CO2 figure is 103g/km. So far, so good – but there is a snag. Whereas all manual transmission Minis will be equipped with stop-start as a running change, the MHD is a separate and distinct model in the Smart range. Which means it is more expensive.
How much more expensive is a critical point. I gather that right-hand drive versions for the UK are likely to be about £150 more than the standard 71bhp model.
That does not sound much but the retail customer will still need 25,000 miles to pay back the investment. It will be interesting to see how many customers are prepared to pay extra for something other makes will increasingly provide for free.
Embracing the mood of the moment, Smart UK has also decided to import a limited number of diesel ForFours with left-hand drive. Its sluggish progress
(0-62mph in 19.8 sec) is at least compensated by a combined fuel consumption of 85mpg.
Smart also took pride in demonstrating its pure electric model, developed in conjunction with British race engine manufacturer Zytec.
This was a DaimlerChrysler UK initiative and 100 examples are being built, based on the old model ForTwo, for a field trial
with selected fleets in London.
The Smart ED drives without problems, does 65mph and has a range of about 60 miles. It would seem an ideal alternative to the
G-Wiz electric cars that are appearing all over London – and, fully approved as a car (the G-Wiz is a quadricycle), it has a proven safety record. But it will be at least two years before Mercedes decides whether to go ahead with a production electric Smart.
I cannot say I am keen on cars that have to be plugged in for hours before they can make even short journeys but if ever there was a car that lends itself to an electric conversion, the Smart ForTwo is it. In the current climate this looks like a missed opportunity.