Smart, formerly Smart GmbH (formerly MCC Smart GmbH), an automotive brand of Daimler AG, is a manufacturer of microcars and superminis based in Böblingen, Germany, produced in Hambach (France).

It is marketed as the "smart" in all lower-case, with the current Smart brand logo denoting a letter "c" for "compact" and an arrow for "forward thinking".

The project, started by Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch, was nicknamed the "Swatchmobile". The name Smart is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART.

Intended to use innovative features (such as a hybrid engine) and be affordable for young people, the Smart had similar design objective to the Citroën 2CV of the 1940s.

The first car intended to use innovative features and be affordable to young people.

The idea behind the car was also to create a vehicle easy to park and very user-friendly in towns.

Its length of 250 centimeters was designed to equal the width of a regular parking slot, allowing two or three Smarts to park in the same space of one normal car.

Swatch CEO Nicolas Hayek sought an established car maker to produce his Swatch car. In 1993, Mercedes-Benz started a feasibility study on a subcompact car.

Together with the Swatch Group Ltd. they founded the Micro Compact Car AG in 1994.

The Smart city-coupe celebrates its world première at the IAA in Frankfurt in 1997.

Today, the Smart is available in 37 countries around over the world and has been sold over 750,000 times.

Unfortunately, in 2006, after dwindling sales, Smart GmbH was liquidated and its operations were absorbed within the Mercedes-Benz automobile group.

Apart from the original short Smart Fortwo, a sporty Smart Roadster, a limited production of 2000 concept Smart Crosstown and a supermini Smart Forfour were also made but have now been discontinued.

There were also plans to introduce a Brazilian-made cross-over based on the body of the ForFour. Smart’s current range is reduced to the original model, the Fortwo, available in coupe or convertible.

GREEN CREDENTIALS

Daimler is expected to start production of the electric Smart equipped with lithium-ion batteries in 2009 with mass production likely by 2012.

Hybrid Technologies plans to sell an electric version of the Smart vehicle in the US. It is being called a hybrid car even though the vehicle is all-electric.

The Smart fortwo is the most fuel-efficient gasoline-engined car for sale in the US; however, according to the EPA, the Smart's fuel efficiency is lower than the fuel efficiency of some hybrids such as the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid, and the two-seat Honda Insight, making it the fourth most fuel efficient vehicle in the US.