Smart ForTwo Crossblade: Weird Car of The Month

Despite being priced at just £20k, it can make a £1-million car look mundane.

The tiny two-seat Smart car gets even quirkier with this special edition.

In 2001, Smart showcased an exotic concept car along with the message of “less is more”. It garnered so much attention that the company put it into production the following year, marking the introduction of the Smart ForTwo Crossblade.

Introduced in June 2002 and available for purchase for €21,000, the Crossblade sold out quickly. Not only was the design a unique take on the Smart car but the Crossblade was also limited edition, with only 2,000 examples being produced, each individually numbered.

One example was purchased by the then-eccentric Robbie Williams, making an example of the kind of personality this wild car was made for.

Weighing in at just 740kg thanks to the stripped-back design, the Crossblade may have looked sporty but it was all for show. In reality, the car produced 70hp from a 600cc 3-cylinder engine and despite looking like a baby Ariel Atom, this was never meant to be a car for a track.

Strangely, there were many sporty elements built into this car. For instance, the car had a rear-engine layout and was of course rear-wheel drive. It also had scissor doors, just like a supercar and the engine was tweaked by Brabus.

Despite its meagre power output, there is no denying that the Crossblade looked the part. Parked next to a car worth twenty times its value, this little limited edition Smart car would undoubtedly attract more eyeballs. A two-tone aesthetic, low profile tyres, an open-air cockpit like a £2 million Ferrari Monza SP2 and a spoiler-like C pillar at the rear.

With no roof, no doors and a tiny little wind deflector screen, it was described as ‘an open leisure car uncompromisingly designed for blue skies and high spirit’. The name Crossblade comes from the experience of driving it which is supposedly comparable to gliding on rollerblades.

The Crossblade is an excellent example of a car that looks sporty but is in reality, as sluggish as ever. The turbocharged ‘tweaked by Brabus’ engine was capable of propelling the little car from 0-62mph in around 17 seconds. And with a top speed of 84mph, it can’t be considered fast by any measurement.

A truly wonderfully weird car that we hope is seen again with a modern rendition made by Smart using their current ForTwo model.

Let us know what you think, in the comments below.

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