Saturday, December 1, 2007

Smart Cars

Nineteen years and counting. That’s how long I’ve been car-free. Living in New York City — no need. And now in grad school — no afford! With excellent public transportation and our favorite community car-sharing service, a car is an easy expense to do without. And yet . . . the new Smart Car piques my interest, just because it’s so darn cute. Probably not practical, and I worry it would cry when confronted by a big bully of a SUV. But you’'ve gotta give it style points.

Equally intriguing, Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2007 article, which includes a CitiCar prototype from MIT. Intended to work like bike sharing in European countries: pick up one of these space-saving “stackable cards” at an airport or train station, drop it off at an approved location in town. Will this change the face of car ownership in the U.S.? Will manufacturers of the cute SmartCars realize that a lower price tag might be even cuter?

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