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Smart Forstars micro-SUV a mobile cinema


Where other cars might have a bonnet intake to help cool the engine, the Smart Forstars’ scoop conceals a projector that can turn any handy wall into your personal cinema.

The media player for the projector can be connected directly to your smartphone or stream video from it via Bluetooth if you’ve put the phone to use in the special bracket for the Forstar’s other trick -- turning the phone into a rearview mirror.

While the Forstars name might suggest the carmaker is urging wannabe narcissists to take advantage of the projector to inflict their home movies on the world, Smart says it refers instead to the glass roof that reveals the night sky.

A further development of the glass-tailgated For-us concept from January’s Detroit motor show, Smart says the concept is its first Sports Utility Coupe – although it’s fairly far removed from even your wildest imagining of anything to do with sports. Or normal standards of utility.

The right-hand tail-light conceals the charging socket, but the left is a large bottle holder, and the seat shells are slung with cloth hammocks – easily removable to allow you to change colours at whim, or to load larger items if you stow the passenger sling.

Finishes include a mix of white leather, mother-of-pearl, wet-look ‘alubeam’ red paint and metallic titanium, while there are the mandatory LED garnishes in the light clusters. With short overhangs and a squat stance, the Forstars is lower, but based on a larger platform than that of the current Smart Fortwo we get in Australia.

There’s a significant 60.0cm more length, 19.3cm wider wheelbase at the rear and 9cm at the front, signalling that the Fortwo itself is due to grow for the next generation set to arrive in 2013. The concept is powered by a 60kW magneto-electric motor fed by a 17.6kWh battery - used overseas in the Smart Fortwo Brabus - which develops 135Nm of torque from kick-off and helps the concept to a top speed of more than 130km/h.