Latest / The Car Nerd with Jason Hassett
Smart Car: The Most Expensive Mercedes Ever Made
In 1993, the man who saved the Swiss watch industry decided to reinvent the car. Nicolas Hayek imagined a cheap, colourful electric runabout that people could personalise like a Swatch—small enough for two passengers, city streets, and, in his words, “two cases of beer.”Volkswagen dismissed it as an elephant’s roller skate. Mercedes-Benz agreed to build it.The result was one of the cleverest, strangest, and most financially disastrous cars ever produced: the original Smart Car. Its steel safety cage could survive an impact with an S-Class, its plastic body panels could be swapped in under an…
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