According to the Federal Government’s Green Vehicle Guide, the smart fortwo cabrio mhd (micro hybrid drive) can lay claim to being Australia’s greenest car. This is on account of the mhd scoring the lowest greenhouse and air pollution emissions of any car currently on sale in Australia. Yes, even better than Toyota’s Prius, albeit by the barest of margins!
Despite the marketing trickey in its name, the smart fortwo mhd uses a conventional internal combustion engine, there’s no electric power hidden away. The smart fortwo mhd achieves its credentials, in part, by utilising start-stop engine technology. When driven in traffic the mhd system switches the engine off when stationary and restarts when the accelerator is next pressed. The mhd was featured on last week’s episode of Fifth Gear in the UK, and a YouTube clip of this segment can be seen after the jump.
The smart fortwo mhd only has a meagre 52kW of power, but with that comes impressive fuel consumption. Its combined cycle is 4.4l/100km (according to ADR 81/02) and carbon dioxide (CO2) output of the two-seater is a low 105g/km. Comparatively the Toyota Prius rates the same for fuel consumption, but a solitary extra gram for CO2 emissions at 106g/km.
However, the bar for fuel consumption and CO2 emissions is set to be lowered even further when the MINI Cooper D goes on sale in Australia in the second half of this year.
Horst von Sanden, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Australia was delighted with the news and said, “The goal of sustainable mobility lies at the heart of the smart concept, and it’s this very car, along with new developments such as the electric smart ed, that have made some of the biggest steps towards the ultimate goal of emission-free motoring.”