smart times 2013 in Lucerne: 1,700 smart fans from 24 countries celebrated three anniversaries of their brand at once
15 years of smart, 10 years of the smart roadster and the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo – at this year’s smart times fans of the urban brand had plenty of reasons to celebrate. From 23 to 25 August 2013 1,700 smart enthusiasts from 24 countries came to Lucerne for the world’s largest gathering of the smart community and congratulated their brand with the longest smart parade ever. On Saturday 1,203 vehicles drove from Buochs to Seelisberg and back – a unique sight in the mountains high above Lake Lucerne. Next year smart times 14 will take place in Portugal.
Stuttgart/Luzern, Aug 26, 2013 – For smart’s 15th birthday the worldwide smart community had chosen Switzerland for their annual gathering – the country of one of the founding fathers of the urban two-seater. Together with Nicolas G. Hayek, the inventor of the Swatch watch, in the 1990s Mercedes-Benz developed the revolutionary concept for today’s car. In 1998 the first smart took to the road. Since then the trendy and environmentally friendly two-seater has been a success story. A few weeks ago the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo rolled off the production line in Hambach: a smart fortwo cabrio electric drive.
Handover of the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo
Dr Annette Winkler, Head of smart, handed over the all-white smart fortwo electric drive cabriolet with a bright red leather interior to the motor journal “auto motor und sport”, which will sell it to the highest bidding reader. The proceeds from the auction will be donated to a study project at Munich Technical University for the sustainable promotion of electric mobility on the African continent.
The smart fortwo cabrio electric drive is the world’s only electric cabriolet. It offers 100 percent driving fun with zero emissions. smart fans in Lucerne were also able to experience this for themselves as numerous electric smart fortwo models and smart ebikes were available for test drives.
A further highlight of the three-day event was the smart roadster’s tenth birthday celebrations. It was produced between 2003 and 2005 in various model variants with total production of around 43,000 vehicles and it also attained cult status. 314 smart roadster fans travelled from all over Europe with their vehicles to celebrate the anniversary with an anniversary outing.
In addition, the participants enjoyed a varied programme including trendy sporting activities, fun excursions to the mountains, live music and interesting talks with designers, tuners and experts.
SOURCE: Daimler
