Smart and BRABUS special edition celebrates 10 years

The tuning and customizing house BRABUS is celebrating a decade of collaboration with Mercedes’ microcar brand Smart. The simply named “10th Anniversary” ForTwo model recognizes the partnership that has customized over 50,000 city cars since 2002.

For those scratching their heads thinking the car has not been available for that long, this is why the story was filed in our Look But Don’t Touch section. Smart has only been in the U.S. for about four years, but it has been on the international market since 1998. BRABUS started making these a bit more interesting ten years ago, and the anniversary edition is for those markets that have had to live with this little guy from the onset.

It usually takes 25 years for the silver anniversary, so Smart and BRABUS have decided that the one decade mark will be commemorated in the not quite as precious matte gray. This includes “liquid silver” paint, titanium-look headlights, and dark silver wheels. Inside there are heated black leather seats with 10th Anniversary logos, red trim pieces, and a dash badge noting the car’s serial number out of the 100 total special edition cars made.

What is likely the most exciting part for enthusiasts is that Smart ForTwo BRABUS special edition comes with some extra power. Part of the BRABUS performance bin includes a 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged motor that puts out 102 hp. That may not seem like a whole lot, but it is quite a bump over the 70 hp non-turbo motor that is the sole unit available in North America.

Not only is the upgraded power not sold in the U.S., but no BRABUS parts are available over here at all. Smart will rectify some of this by offering BRABUS accessories soon, but none will involve the engine.

Quite frankly, a 102 hp edition of the Smart ForTwo would be a tough sell here because the little car would lose its appeal as a fuel sipper. In a country like the U.S. were small size is not everyone’s concern, we don’t need a high-performance Smart car. Smart is disappointing us by staying low-power, but it is truly living up to its name.