It’s hard to believe,  but it’s been 10 years since the first smart Fortwo rolled off the assembly line at Mercedes Benz’s “Smartville,” factory in Hambach, France.

The Diminutive two-seater has since earned a cult status for its design, technology, safety and of course, sold in 37 countries — with 12,400 customers in Canada since ’04.

Mercedes actually began designing the “Car of the Future” back in the 1970s, looking to create a revolutionary super-compact automobile, in 1989, Nicolas G. Hayek, the inventor of the Swatch, partnered with the automaker to conceive a small car for city driving, creating the micro compact car ag, headquartered in Biel, Switzerland.

The Fortwo (known as the city coupe at the time). Premiered at the 1997 Frankfurt motor show. Going forward, smart will launch an electric drive version of the current generation model in 2010.

As Mercedes head honcho, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, said, “has we  not in vented (the Smart) 10 years ago, we would have to so now.”

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