1700 smart fans from 24 countries gather to celebrate three anniversaries

Stuttgart/Lucerne

smart times 2013 in Lucerne

15 years of smart, 10 years of the smart roadster and the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo – at this year’s smart times the fans had plenty of reasons to celebrate. From 23 to 25th August 2013 some 1700 smart enthusiasts from 24 countries, many of them Daimler employees from various sites, 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 no fewer than 1203 vehicles drove from Buochs to Seelisberg and back – a unique sight in the mountains high above Lake Lucerne.

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 cult car. The very first smart took to the road back in 1998 - and a few weeks ago the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo rolled off the production line in Hambach: an all-white smart fortwo electric drive Cabriolet with bright red leather interior.

Handover of the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo

Dr Annette Winkler, Head of smart, handed over the smart fortwo electric drive Cabriolet to the motor journal “auto motor und sport”, which will auction it off 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.

A further highlight of the three-day gathering included the smart Roadster’s tenth anniversary 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. Some 314 smart Roadster fans travelled from all over Europe with their vehicles to celebrate the anniversary with an anniversary outing.

The weekend in Buochs also had something to offer on a sorting level, such as training sessions on the beach volleyball field with reigning Olympic champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann.
The varied programme of events also comprised test rides on smart ebikes and in the smart crossblade, fun excursions into the Alpine mountains, live music and interesting talks with designers, tuners and experts.

A number of Daimler employees celebrated together with fans in the mountains. In addition to the team from Böblingen and colleagues from Stuttgart, numerous representatives from the various markets and the “Smartville” plant in Hambach also travelled to the event to make the most of a weekend at Lake Lucerne to round off their summer holidays.