Smart Times 12 In The News

[Huronlad]

The world’s largest Smart gathering, called “Smart Times”, is bringing together more than 4,500 enthusiasts in Antwerp, Belgium from August 23 – 26 for the 2012 version of the annual event.

Large gathering for a small carThe car company expects visitors from 25 different countries around the world to descend on Hangar29 Waagnatie, a former port, at the end of August. Attendees will be able to test drive the smart ebike for the first time, as well as the Smart Fortwo plug-in electric vehicle for the first time.The free four-day event will include live concerts, talks with designers, tours of Antwerp, contests, and more. The host city for Smart Drive 13 will also be announced on the second day.“Smart Times is cult, it’s the world’s largest gathering of the Smart family and we are so happy to invite all the Smart fans from all over the world”, says Dr. Annette Winkler, Head of Smart. “I can’t wait to drive with our guests and hundreds of Smarts, many of them individually designed or rebuilt, through the beautiful city of Antwerp at our large Smart Times parade.”The first Smart Times event took place in 2001 in Zell am See, Austria. It continued to be held there until 2010, when organizers announced the annual get-together would be held in a different city in Europe for each subsequent year. The first non-Austrian host was Riccione, Italy in 2011.The company says Antwerp was chosen for 2012 because it’s so centrally located in Europe; it’s less than 350 km away from Paris, Düsseldorf or London...............Story.