Smart Thinking: The Little Car That Made it Big

This book is an in-depth corporate history of the birth and growth of the smart fortwo. Copyright 2004 it covers the early history of the fortwo in depth, then touches on the crossblade & roadster before describing the forfour. The formore is "coming soon". At the point the book ends the smart company is finally beginning to succeed and the opening of the North American market seems imminent.Unfortunately this is not a great book. Way too many headshots of transient managers, way too few photos of the cars. Little to no actual explanation of the car's technology is brought into the story. It is also written a super optimistic tone that may or not have been appropriate at that point in the arc of the smart car. The book would have been far more interesting if written a few years later as the company begins to sink. As written there are no portents of trouble ahead.I would recommend you read "Smart: small car, big deal" (Motorbooks, 2008) instead. It also has chapters that seem have been written by the smart marketing department, but ultimately it tells much more of the history of the CAR, not the company as this book does. Plus it's a large format book with large photos.As for this book, I'd only recommend it is you feel compelled to know the gory details of the corporate history in the early years.

I knew going in this book was outdated when I started reading it, but I wasn't thrilled with it for two reasons. Firstly, the book dwells on the political minutiae behind the scene of the history of the car. This is what the earlier review means, describing the book as a "business-type" book.The author is extremely repetitive when it comes to describing what corporate manager green-lighted or red-lighted some particular stage along the way -- meanwhile failing to relate much if anything about the actual design development of the car. To wit, there are far more photos of middle managers than actual cars.When the 450 receives a new rear suspension, there is little analysis or description. Who styled the 450? It's suggested that Michael Mauer had a hand in it, but chronologically that couldn't have happened as he came after the car was styled. What were the discussion leading up to the automated manual transmission? Who conceived of the Trideon and named it? I hoped the book would have explored the car more.The other big problem is that the book has an unctuous, obsequious tone -- cheerleading on behalf of Smart, possibly as a quid pro quo in return for having been given such unfettered corporate access. I found way too many ungrounded, biased statements to feel the "voice" of the book was any where near impartial.In contrast, I would cite Brock Yates' "The Critical Path: Inventing an Automobile and Reinventing a Corporation"; "All Corvettes Are Red" by James Schefter and "Car: A Drama of the American Workplace" by Mary Walton as compelling books that delve into the the history and development of a car model.

This is a good book to inform the reader on the history of Smart, but since its publication in 2004, it's already very outdated. Long gone are the forfour, Roadster, crossblade, and the development of the formore 4x4 vehicles. The book ends without mentioning the new chairman of Daimler, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, or the major changes Daimler made since 2004. Now with the new fortwo (451) model to arrive on the U.S. shores in January 2008, a new book is needed to continue the Smart story by the end of that year.So if you're looking for a historical account on Smart, this is a great book. If you're looking for current materials... wait till the end of 2008 or later.

A great book. Good photos and interesting story.

Informative, and a great deal. Unfortunatly, the book was a little dated, and was written before some of the promised cars were released into production, and in the case of a couple of them, never made production. But well written, and informational about the history of the idea, and how it came to pass, which is why I bought it. Quite happy with it

The definitive book on the smart car. For those in the US who have not yet seen this car (but soon will), this will answer all the questions. Fascinating story of a most intriguing car. More drama than a soap opera and it will continue as the car hits the American shores in 2006. You will understand why this car draws the attention of everyone within each new country it is introduced. Well written and difficult to put down.

This is a revelatory history of the creation of a new automotive marque, and all the trials & tribulations that went into doing so. While complaints of it being "dated" are somewhat valid, it is after all attempting to chronicle in detail the history of a product and company that at the time of publication already had more than a decade of history behind it, yet was still a very young company with much room to grow ahead: it is to be expected that some changes have occurred since then! This book gives the owner or fan of SMART cars the necessary background to fully enjoy the marque for what it is: an honest attempt to change the world as we know it! It is important for the potential purchaser to note that this is *not* a book with technical info on model variations or instructions on performance modifications.

This is an extraordinary little book about an extraordinary little car. I used it as my Costa Coffee reading material and could hardly put it down, being every bit as irresistible as a top-notch thriller. Although technical details of the various models of the Smart are given, (but only to 2006), the book is mainly about the twists and turns in the struggle to manufacture the car at all. It was the brain-child of Nicolas Hayek, the acknowledged saviour of the Swiss Watch industry and head of the Swatch organisation. Originally conceived as a city runabout with an economical hybrid engine, it finally ended up as a chic fashion accessory that the great and the good wanted to be seen in. The baby car concept, following the bubble cars of the 1950s, typified by the Messerschmidt, became a good starting point for the design, these having had the origins in the post war austerity years. Despite the initial fruitful cooperation with Volkswagen under the then CEO, Carl Hahn, the mood of VW changed under the succeeding boss Ferdinand Piech who promptly cancelled the project. The main stumbling block was the limitation imposed upon it by having only two seats. Fortunately, Hayek succeeded in persuading Mercedes-Benz to take up the reins with further development with the help of Johann Tomforde who designed a revolutionary manufacturing system to solve ambitious cost targets.One of the many setbacks was the failure of the Smart to pass the Swedish Elk test . Mercedes own A Class had also spectacularly failed this test, but was fairly simply remedied unlike the Smart, which was much more serious, resulting one more of the increasing number of problems surrounding the car’s development, each one of which brought the decision to cancel ever closer.As with all Mystery Novel reviews, I will not reveal the nail-biting conclusion as to how the Smart finally achieves its happy ending, other than to say the publication is well printed in easy to read text on glossy pages with splendid colour illustrations (mostly, it must be said of the protagonists rather than the cars).Hold onto your seats and go steady on the coffee!

We are thinking of buying a Smart car and thought this might be a good read plus give us an idea of the background to this quaint little car that has now been going strong for some years now. Yes indeed its quite an interesting little book about the beginning of the Smart car from the initial concept, drawings to getting it made and all the internal strife that went on behind the scenes in the management area and the struggles to get it made and on the road - this could well make a very good film as its got all the elements there plus the larger than life characters. Overall a very good read and as good as any well known book of modern day fiction as after all, this actually happened.

I purchased my first Smart car that was only available in left hand drive way back in 2002 and have owned my current Smart 453 fortwo Brabus Sport for around 3 years. I've read lots of articles about the Smart car over the years and was very pleased to buy this book. The book is in hardback form and the 256 pages have many photos and illustrations throughout. It is an incredible story and a very interesting read.Sold and supplied by Goldleaf books with fast shipping. Highly recommended.

Nice info. about the Smart.

Like the Smart - nice book