Within the framework of this year's International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main, yesterday evening the smart future minds award was awarded to the visionary and sustainable project „The People’s Supermarket“ from London. Eleven projects from Europe were nominated and were selected by experts from the fields of society, design, architecture, media, science and mobility. An international jury consisting of trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort, sustainability blogger Graham Hill (treehugger.com), Norwegian artist Magne Furuholmen (a-ha) and head of smart Dr. Annette Winkler chose the overall winner of the smart future minds award in Frankfurt. All eleven projects nominated will be exhibited from 15 to 25 September at the smart urban stage in Frankfurt.


„The People’s Supermarket“, amongst others initiated by Kate Bull and Arthur Potts from London wins the international smart future minds award on the future of the city and receives as one of the first customers a third generation smart fortwo electric drive. The sustainable food cooperative from the United Kingdom set itself the task of offering city dwellers from all social classes healthy, locally grown produce at fair prices. Giving the reasons for their choice the jury said "The People’s Supermarket makes a positive contribution to urban life. The convincing concept helps people in cities to return to community values. It's also about healthy food – and food is a subject that unites people around the world!"

Dr. Annette Winkler says "With the space- and resource-saving smart we have been making life in cities around the world a bit brighter and more flexible since 1998. "The People's Supermarket" has lots of things in common with smart: the project questions the status quo, improves the quality of life in cities and proves that less can often be more."

The jury in Frankfurt also made a further surprising decision: the project "Calle de Diversion" from Rome, which encourages people to revive traditional and very inexpensive street games, was awarded a surprising second place. "We found it so hard to choose the winner of the smart future minds award that we decided to acknowledge a second project. "Calle de Diversion" is a great idea that needs very little to move a lot. It's a fantastic idea that brings young people in particular together in a community in a fun way.", the jury said. The jury members spontaneously decided to give financial support to the project "Calle de Diversion“.

Between April 2010 and September 2011 a smart urban stage was held in eleven European cities (Berlin, Rome, Zurich, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Barcelona, Cologne and Milan) and a total of 110 future-oriented projects on the theme of "The future of the city" were presented. 55 experts from the fields of society, design, architecture, media, science and mobility – including Italian industrial designer Martino Gamper, French journalist Diane Pernet, and Spanish film director Isabel Coixet – acted as curators for the sustainable, future-oriented ideas, and also chose the local winners of the smart future minds award.

The national winners did not only win prize money of €10,000, they were also nominated for the international future minds award that has now been awarded in Frankfurt to the food co-operative “The People’s Supermarket”.

All eleven projects shown at the smart urban stage proved themselves to be particularly trend-setting and sustainable in the Europe-wide competition. They provide answers to the question of how people living in urban areas can bring more community and sustainability into their everyday lives in future.

From 14 September the general public will also be able to vote for their favourite project. On the smart urban stage Facebook page www.facebook.com/smarturbanstage people can choose their personal favourite and vote for it. The winner will be supported in the active continuation of his projects.

The winning smart future minds projects and all ideas curated to date will be on display to the public from 15 to 25 September with opening hours from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. .

At the smart urban stage anyone in possession of a driving licence can test drive the smart fortwo electric drive just outside the exhibition site in Frankfurt – and satisfy oneself that electric driving already is an alternative for the individual mobility in the city. Those interested can register on site or online at: www.smart-urban-stage.com/testdrive .

Over the past eighteen months more than 60,000 people have visited the smart urban stage, and more than 14,000 people have test driven t he smart fortwo electric drive. Through these awards, since April 2010 smart has given its support to international future-oriented projects like the Berlin city garden project "Prinzessinnengärten" in the form of almost €140,000 of prize money. All 110 projects curated in the past year and a half are presented on the website www.smart-urban-stage.com .

The temporary exhibition space, designed by the Aachen design agency BRAUNWAGNER, has won several awards including the red dot award 2010, the Good Design Award 2010 and an ADC nail in bronze in 2011. The smart urban stage is currently nominated for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Communication Design category.

After the 'forspeed' showcar was unveiled back in March at the Geneva Auto Salon, smart is bringing to Frankfurt a new concept designed to envision the design philosophy to be featured on the next generation of the fortwo model: the new 'forvision' follows on the trail of the previous prototype and proposes a dynamic approach for the urban car of tomorrow.





The smart forvision comes styled in quite the same manner as the 'forspeed', which means a rounded body with intricate lines and profiles to deliver an aerodynamic appearance, a radiator grille with hexagonal holes, oval headlamps and tail lights with LED technology, a candy-like white paint finish for the front fascia, lower section of the doors, tailgate, rear bumper and wheel arches and a glossy, goldish paint finish for the roof, the B-pillar and the door sills.



Engineers have put their best skills at work to create the 'forvision', sporting an all-electric powertrain and several equipments and breakthroughs which are absolute premieres in its class. They colaborated with chemistry experts from BASF and came up with impressively lightweight wheels constructed out of state-of-the-art plastic compounds that ensures an overall mass of just three kilograms each. Other astonishing technical solutions include the intelligent sunroof designed to feed extra energy into the Li-Ion batteries and the use of a carbon fiber epoxy resin to build the ultrafuturistic passenger shuttle and the doors, which also contributes to save important kilos compared to common compound such as stainless steel or aluminium.



Stay tuned to Mercedes-Benz-Blog as more official details follow the upcoming period! In the mean time, enjoy the preliminary photos of the smart forvision concept!

Mercedes-Benz celebrates five world premieres at the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show. The centrepiece of its show presentation is the new Mercedes-Benz B-Class. Far more agile and efficient than previously, yet as usual comfortable and spacious – the Sports Tourer is an all-round talent. Another highlight will be the F 125! The research car demonstrates how in the long term entirely emission-free individual mobility can be made possible in the luxury segment. Roadster performance in perfection is shown by the new SLS AMG Roadster, which also is making its first public appearance at the show. Two roadsters also have their world premieres, the SLK 250 CDI and SLK 55 AMG.


As a highlight marking 125 years of the automobile, Mercedes-Benz is presenting a visionary outlook on future technical developments in the luxury segment. The F 125! research vehicle anticipates future trends and prepares the way for implementation of an innovative premium concept for large, luxurious automobiles.

The new B-Class: new era in compact cars

Featuring a new four-cylinder petrol engine with direct injection and turbocharger, a new diesel engine, a new dual clutch transmission and a new manual transmission along with new assistance systems, technologically the second generation of the B-Class ushers in a new compact car era at Mercedes-Benz. High-grade materials and finely structured surfaces, fine details, precision workmanship plus safety equipment unique to the segment raise the standard for comparison in the compact car segment. In addition, Mercedes-Benz is showing a variant of the new B-Class with an alternative drive.

The new M-Class: refined efficiency champion

The entire model range of the new M-Class consumes 25 percent less fuel on average compared with the previous models. Outstanding, the ML 250 BlueTEC 4MATIC, which is content with an NEDC consumption of 6.0 l/100 km (158 g CO2/km) and can travel 1500 kilometres on a single tankful. Efficiency notwithstanding, the fascination of the M-Class with its unique synthesis of agility, driving pleasure and comfort is fully preserved.

SLK 250 CDI: first Mercedes-Benz roadster with a diesel engine

For the first time, Mercedes-Benz is offering the sporty SLK Roadster with a diesel engine. The 150 kW (204 hp) four-cylinder power unit of the SLK 250 CDI puts the two-seater at the top of its class in numerous respects. The SLK delivers top figures for fuel consumption and torque. The result is superior driving enjoyment both on winding country roads and on long motorway stretches. Like the other models in the latest SLK family, which were presented in January this year, it combines lively sportiness with high-quality appointments and excellent comfort.

Show car Viano Vision Pearl: yacht on four wheels

With the show car Viano Vision Pearl Mercedes-Benz shows what's possible in the van category. All white-and-grey leather appointments, a genuine wood floor, brushed aluminium trim, chromatic window tinting, and the Bang & Olufsen high-end sound system "BeoSound Viano" make travelling in the Viano Vision Pearl a fine experience for up to six occupants. The design concept draws on the looks of state-of-the-art sport yachts and takes up the theme "travel as an adventure".

SLS AMG Roadster: open-top driving in its sportiest form

The technological highlights of the SLS AMG Roadster read like an A-B-C of modern sports car engineering: the combination of an aluminium spaceframe body, an AMG 6.3-litre V8 front-mid engine with a peak output of 420 kW (571 hp) and 650 newton metres of torque, a seven-speed dual clutch transmission in a transaxle arrangement and a sports suspension with aluminium double wishbones is guaranteed to make the hearts of sports car enthusiasts beat faster – while ensuring outstanding driving dynamics and roadster motoring pleasure.

SLK 55 AMG: top figures in all areas

The Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG is the most powerful SLK of all time. Its newly developed AMG 5.5-litre V8 with cylinder shutoff system combines highest performance with lowest consumption. With a maximum output of 310 kW (422 hp) and maximum toque of 540 Newton metres, the SLK 55 AMG surpasses all direct competitors. Its fuel consumption is some 30 percent lower than the previous model's. The AMG sports suspension with Direct-Steer system, Torque Vectoring Brake and 3-stage ESP® plus the AMG high-performance braking system ensure very dynamic handling.

C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series: unadulterated performance

Spectacular design, technology transfer from the world of motorsport and driving dynamics at the highest level. The new Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series embodies the new AMG brand claim Driving Performance like no other AMG model. With a maximum output of 380 kW (517 hp) and a maximum torque of 620 Newton metres, the new high-performance vehicle is the most powerful C-Class of all time. The AMG 6.3-litre-V8 engine impresses with its hefty torque, tremendous pulling power and responsiveness, and ensures high-calibre performance: the C 63 AMG Coupé Black Series accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds.