Celebrating its 10th year of production, luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the one-millionth special smart fortwo electric car, which will be will be donated to charity.

Smart Fortwo Electric Drive photo

The one millionth car, new smart electric drive, has been produced at the car maker’s Hambach plant in France. The smart fortwo is a compact two-seater car and measures slightly more than two-and-a-half metres in length.The car, which used to be initially offered for sale only in Germany and eight other European countries, soon had seen much popularity and demand that the vehicle was made available in as many as 37 countries worldwide. It is expected that the smart fortwo will go on sale in China too by mid 2009.

According to a report, the anniversary vehicle is has an 52 kW/71 bhp engine. The new smart fortwo electric drive is expected to entirely rely on and powered by lithium-ion battery by the mid of 2009. The first generation of the Smart fortwo electric drive was equipped with a sodium-nickel-chloride battery, while the second generation will be fitted with a lithium-ion battery. This battery combines higher performance with a long life and high reliability, said a review of the car.

Easily a CO2 champion, the Smart fortwo cdi is an economical diesel variant of the two-seater and burns just 3.3 litres per 100 km. It is seen as emitting only 88 grams of CO2 per km, which incidentally is the lowest by known standards. The Smart fortwo has already been awarded the OkoGlobe award by one of Germany’s largest insurance companies. Its environment friendly features have made the car a favourite with publications all over who have certified the innovative two-seater’s unparalleled economy and environmental friendliness.

With the car already targeting China’s , fashion-conscious youth who look for an agile, trendy vehicle to suit their lifestyles, the car’s debut in India is still being awaited.