Posted on: Dec 31, 2012 | 13,694 reads

This is Not Your Average Smart Car

South American team wants to field a pair of Smart rally buggies at Dakar, but hasn't got the funds together.

Watch the Dakar rally and you're bound to see all manner of vehicles tackling the South American desert in one of the most grueling races in the world. Challengers include SUVs, pickups, heavy-duty trucks, off-road motorcycles… you name it. But a Smart? That's just what one team has put together in the vehicle you see here. The Smart Buggy 4x4 is a heavily-modified version of the comically small city-car, with a substantially upgraded suspension, full roll cage and much, much more.

In fact we wouldn't be surprised if all it shared, at the end of the day, with the Smart ForTwo was its body shell, and even that looks like a fiberglass recreation. The whole package weighs just 1,650 lbs, and reportedly meets the FIA regulations for its class.

Unfortunately the team headed by Jose Luis Alvarez failed to come up with the funding necessary to field the Smart buggy in the Dakar rally this year (kicking off in Peru on Jaguar 5), but there's always next year.