Daimler-Benz AG and SMH, the maker of Swatch watches, co-founded Micro Compact Car AG (MCC) in 1994 to develop economical, low-emissions vehicles aimed at the fashionable urban commuter. The company’s first model, the smart city-coupé—known colloquially as the “smart car”—was released four years later. In 2002, smart released the roadster, a compact performance-oriented two-seater, followed by a prototype version powered by a BRABUS-tuned twin-turbocharged V-6 engine. Although the prototype never made it to production, a limited run of 50 visually identical BRABUS-tuned “racing edition” roadster-coupés (known as the RCR) were built.