By Rick Popely, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — What's fashionable, as cool as an iPhone but just a tad bigger?

Hyperbole aside, the answer is: a car.

In this case, an impossibly tiny new vehicle called the Smart Fortwo isn't even for sale in the U.S. until January, but its manufacturer says its limited production is already sold out through much of 2008.

A bubble-shaped two-seater, the Smart is more than three feet shorter than a Mini Cooper, and less than half the length of a Chevrolet Suburban, making it the smallest car available in the U.S. when it arrives.

The auto industry introduces dozens of new models annually, and most quickly blend into the landscape, despite millions of dollars of advertising. The Fortwo, following in the tracks of automotive icons such as the Toyota Prius and Mazda Miata, has developed the kind of buzz marketers dream about, managing to squeeze into its pint-sized cockpit several sales-friendly attributes: It sips gas, it's inexpensive and it has loads of personality.

"People today are much more focused on their self image, how they feel and look to their peers," said Wes Brown, a principal in Iceology, a Los Angles research firm that studies consumer behavior. "That's what's driving the marketplace, and that adds to the opportunity for a brand like Smart. It's definitely a fashion statement."

Size is both the Fortwo's biggest draw and drawback because SUVs tower over it and can weigh three to four times as much. As the smallest and one of the lightest cars on the road, the 1,650-pound Fortwo might look comfortable on a cobblestone street in Europe, but it's sure to scare off many American buyers worried about a collision with a 5,000-pound SUV or pickup.

The Smart meets U.S. safety standards, which means it is equipped to withstand crash tests in full-frontal and front-offset collisions at 35 mph and side collisions at 38 mph. Safety also was a concern with the Mini Cooper, but the Mini has compiled a better safety record than some larger vehicles, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Smart USA president Dave Schembri said the Fortwo's safety record in Europe shows that risks to occupants are no greater than other small cars, and Europe's crash test program gave the Fortwo four out of five stars for adult passenger safety. One of the most important features is its "safety cell," a steel housing designed to displace the force of a crash over a large area of the car.

To address consumer unease in the U.S., each dealership will display the steel safety cell, which looks like a racer car's roll cage, on the showroom floor. But the car is clearly aimed at an urban audience and not as a highway cruiser. In Europe, where the roads are tight and the Smart is popular, the car's signature trick is its ability to park just about anywhere, including nose to the curb.

Made in France by the Mercedes Car Group division of Daimler AG, the Fortwo is wrapped in styling that looks like it came from a toymaker's imagination and is cute beyond words. Imagine a perky car squished together at the ends with a wide opening between the headlights that looks like a big smile.

Smart staged a 50-city road show this year that gave 70,000 tire-kickers time behind the wheel, and Schembri said that eased size and safety concerns. Acceleration from the Fortwo's 71-horsepower 3-cylinder engine is modest, and the tiny car notices most bumps, but the road show gave consumers a chance to see how it confidently zips through tight quarters and around corners. Smart expects the car will have an EPA rating of 36 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving.

When Smart dealerships open in the U.S. in January, Schembri expects to have 40 to 50 operating in major cities, all with waiting lists for the car.

More than 30,000 prospective buyers have made $99 deposits on the Fortwo on Smart's Web site since June 2006.

Schembri wouldn't give a sales projection for 2008, though analysts have pegged the number at around 20,000. Someone who places a deposit now probably would not receive a car until "the very later part of 2008," he said.

Three models will be available, ranging in price from $11,590 to $16,590.

Smart had planned to offer the previous generation Fortwo and other models in the U.S. earlier, but those plans were delayed while Daimler restructured the company, which has yet to produce a profit after 10 years of sales in Europe and other markets.

Other firms imported a small number of Fortwos and converted them to meet U.S. safety and emissions regulations, but the cars that arrive in January will be the first factory-authorized units.

Sustaining interest long term could prove challenging for Smart because, as with cars such as the Volkswagen Beetle and Mini Cooper, future versions will need to remain similar is size and shape.

"It's always difficult with these types of vehicles with iconic styling because you have to decide how to keep it fresh without changing it too much so that people don't recognize it. I think that will require flushing out the lineup with other vehicle types," said Brown, the consumer behavior expert.

"It will maintain its newness as long as we continue to make substantive changes to the product instead of running cute ads, and you could make a lot of cute ads about this car," Schembri responded.

(Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.)