For years, Detroit automakers have claimed that they couldn’t make cars that get better mileage because those cars just wouldn’t be safe. And for some reason, people believed them. But here comes the Smart car, the tiny two-person vehicle made by–who else–Germans, which not only gets 33 mpg in the city and 41 on the highway but this week passed new crash tests with flying colors. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports today that the 2008 Smart fortwo won the institute’s highest rating for side and front impact tests. The car had already aced government safety testing as well. The car, unlike, say, the Hummer, is selling like hotcakes. Maybe its arrival will finally put rest to the Big Three lies that safe cars can’t be fuel efficient.
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