The 2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive's price is this big
We admit that Smart-related news typically has us warming up our sass machines and reaching for thesaurus entries for the word “small,” but today we’ve been handed some information that had us sitting up at attention. Smart has announced pricing for its updated Fortwo Electric Drive, and, well, the number actually is quite shocking. The little electric coupe will cost $25,750—and that’s before the $7500 tax credit the car is eligible for is applied.
Give yourself a moment to let that price sink in. Yes, viewed on its own, $25,750 is entirely too much money for any Smart, but it also is entirely way too, uh, little for an EV. Consider that a Nissan Leaf starts at $36,050, Chevrolet’s Volt and Ford’s Focus Electric each ring in at $39,995, and a Tesla Model S smashes the piggy bank at $58,570. Only Mitsubishi’s $29,975 i EV comes close to the Smart ED’s smallness, both in terms of price and size. The Smart’s miniscule window sticker also is significant because this is the first year it has had any price; before, the Electric Drive was available only through a $599-per-month lease.
- Instrumented Test: 2011 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive
- Instrumented Test: 2012 Mitsubishi i Electric Vehicle
- Comparison Test: 2012 Chevrolet Volt vs. 2012 Fisker Karma EcoSport
As we already mentioned, the 2013 Smart Fortwo ED receives a host of improvements, but the version from before the update was a huge (microscopic?) dog. We equated it to a finely trimmed golf cart that happens to be street-legal. This year, the ED’s powertrain was totally overhauled to bring more power and better driving range. We have yet to drive the updated model, but let’s just say we’re not quite ready to consider the electric Fortwo a real car until we have the chance to drive it ourselves. We will say that the Fortwo ED’s value proposition is massively more appealing when its low, low price is taken into account. Plus, considering most folks are unlikely to long-haul across the country in a regular, gas-powered Smart Fortwo, the electric version still makes tons of sense for those in need of basic, cheap, and fuel-free transportation that can fit literally anywhere in crowded cities.
For those into silent and slow al fresco motoring, the droptop Fortwo Electric Drive cabriolet iteration can be had for $28,750, and a $1300 240-volt home charger is available for either ED model. Both variants go on sale this spring.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/YNcUdBkpHhE/
Jason Leffler David Carl Allison Gregory Jack Biffle David Lee Blaney Michael Duane Bliss
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