German car maker Daimler-Benz suffered another embarrassment when it announced on Thursday that it will delay the launch of its new Smart car to fix serious safety problems.

The Smart car, a two-seat mini vehicle built in partnership with Swiss watchmaker SMH, flipped over during extreme manoeuvring tests.

Engineers must now widen the car's body, delaying its release until October 1998.

Daimler-Benz, traditionally a maker of expensive cars, was similarly embarrassed earlier this autumn after the introduction in Europe of its first compact car, the "Baby Benz," or Mercedes A-Class.

The new cars are hurting Daimler-Benz's reputation

That car was pulled from the market in November after it tipped over when motoring journalists ran it through the so-called Swedish elk test, where the driver swerves as if trying to avoid an elk.

Both the A-Class and the Smart car, also known as the "Swatchmobile", represent Daimler-Benz's efforts to go down-market to compete with companies such as Volkswagen.

Instead, the debacles have dented the company's reputation for safety.

Daimler-Benz said the delay will have little impact on its financial results. The delayed sales and technical improvements to the Smart will cost Daimler subsidiary Micro Compact Cars about 300 million marks (£100m) for 1997 and 1998.

The company also said it has reassigned the chief designer of the Smart car.

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