Smart City Project Tour Sweeps Across Canada

Smart is counting on a summer promotional tour to help put more drivers behind the wheel of the 2013 Smart Fortwo. The Smart Fortwo Electric Drive, which is also being showcased during the Smart City Project Tour, hopes to add a bit more glamour to the brand's lineup by cashing in on the current hype surrounding battery-powered vehicles. Dubbed the Smart City Project Tour, the brand hopes to highlight not just its new subcompact model but also the efforts that it has made to improve urban communities across the country via the Smart City Project.

The tour started in Victoria, British Columbia in July, and then moved through Vancouver before eventually arriving in Calgary, Ottawa, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, and Toronto, whose September 29 and September 30 dates represent its last stops. Smart is acting aggressively to lure potential shoppers to the tour's test drive events, providing anyone who decides to purchase a Fortwo after participating in the City Project Tour with a $500 gas card. Attendees will also be given the chance to contribute to the City Project - primarily in the form of ideas and concepts for positively transforming urban spaces - with a potential $50,000 in funding given to bring these suggestions from imagination to reality. Smart is also giving away examples of its new Ebike and planting a tree for each person who elects to test out the Fortwo.

Sales of the Smart Fortwo haven't exactly taken off in Canada, which historically has been a strong market for subcompact automobiles. The vehicle's small size makes it a good match for urban environments, but fierce competition from similarly priced automobiles that are bigger, offer equivalent fuel economy, and provide better practicality have seen the Fortwo fighting an uphill battle to gain a foothold across the country.