Smart Car vs. Nissan Leaf: Slow And Steady At An Affordable Price

Oct 06, 2012 09:51 AM EDT | Matt Mercuro

Smart USA announced Friday that a battery-powered version of their small Smart car is going to have the lowest price of any electric car manufactured by a major auto company.

The automaker stated that the price of the new vehicle will start at just $25,000 before tax discounts.

The company, which is now part of Mercedes-Benz, said that they can now afford to do many things that were merely ideas just a short time ago. Such plans include marketing their vehicles better, and now that they actually have a legit ad campaign to support themselves, things are looking pretty good for the company.

"A signature characteristic of the Smart brand is its commitment not only to being green but to making people think differently about it," said Tracey Matura, general manager of Smart in a press statement. "Green can be fun. Green can be affordable. And a lot of us don't really need a four-seater, or at least not for every trip."

Don't expect to win many races in this car however, as it takes 12 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph. The battery life for the vehicle is expected to be anywhere between three to five hours before the owner will have to recharge. The two-seater uses a lithium-ion battery as well.

A convertible version will be sold at $28,000 as well. Both versions will arrive in the U.S. starting this coming spring.

The price of the car is a great deal compared to what you'll get for similar models such as the Nissan Leaf. On average you can purchase a Leaf at $33,000, which is $8,000 more than the new Smart car is going for.

Owners of the Leaf have experienced battery trouble as of late as well, saying that when weather conditions are very hot the car's battery power decreases by a great amount. This problem was leaving owners of the car stranded in places like hot locations that easily reach 100 daily such as Arizona this past summer.

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