Cars of the Future

Over the past three decades or so, movies and television have been portraying the idea that by the year 2000 everyone would be traveling around the world via jet packs and hover cars. Well, that obviously hasn’t happened. At least not yet. Cars of the future have always been a hot topic of discussion for vehicle enthusiasts and will continue to be as they are developed and released year after year. The first couple of future cars would have to be ‘green’ cars.

’Green’ cars were introduced as a part of the ‘green’ initiative to make the Earth a better place to live in. They also cut down on the amount of pollution that is flung into the air from the exhaust fumes. ‘Green’ cars are also known as electric cars or hybrid cars. They run off of electric, a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) or an internal combustion engine. Hybrid power isn’t used solely for vehicles. Trains, buses and some trolleys have switched to hybrid power in order to not only conserves natural resources but to also limit the amount of pollution to the atmosphere.

Hybrid cars, right now, are mainly the future of the automobile industry. On the market now is a vehicle called the smart car. The smart car is so popular that there is a waiting list over a year long to purchase one. It is called the Smart fortwo. As evidenced by its name, the car can only seat two. It is an exceptionally small compact car, it looks almost like a box, and the public can make a reservation for the car for $99.

The fortwo has a 5-speed transmission that can come in a manual or automatic mode. Air conditioning, power windows and alloy wheels are optional. A smart car should not be confused with what some people think it really is. A smart car, in all its fashion, is a car that helps the environment while helping drivers get to and from their daily destinations. It is also smart in the respect that the car is small enough to easily parallel park and park while driving nose-in first. The other smart car from history was KITT, David Hasselhoff’s car from “Knight Rider”, the TV show. KITT was a smart car in the sense that it could turn itself on, talk to Hasselhoff’s character and drive itself when necessary.

There are a handful of different models of the smart car besides the fortwo. There is the forfour, the roadster, the crossblade, the crosstown, the formore, and the smart ev. The smart ev is only in a trial period right now and is being planned on a launch in the United Kingdom sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The United States is not the only country that employs smart cars. Japan, Taiwan, Canada and Mexico have joined the ‘Green’ movement towards providing better cars for the environment while also making them easier to drive. The smart car, with growing popularity, will gradually show up more often on the roadways.