Smart will be returning to its roots with the new #2 city car that will act as a successor to the ForTwo, which finished production last year.
Earlier this week the brand confirmed the #2 will be a two-seat ultra-compact city vehicle. It will be styled by Mercedes-Benz, and ride on an “all-new proprietary architecture for ultra-compact vehicles” being designed in-house by Smart.
The Smart #2 will be launched in late 2026, and sold in China and Europe, as well as some “selected global markets”. Like the other cars in Smart’s current lineup, the #2 will be built in China.
As part of its announcement, Smart released some images with a shadowy representation of the new #2, but the company hasn’t indicated what type of layout the #2 will use, but all three generations of the ForTwo had a rear-engine rear-wheel drive setup.
It also remains to be seen whether the #2 will be quite as small as its predecessors, with the third-generation ForTwo measuring just 2.7m from end to end.
The original ForTwo was conceived as part of a joint venture with Swiss watchmaker Swatch. The partners fell out — with Mercedes-Benz buying out Swatch’s share — after the development team abandoned initial plans for electric and hybrid drivetrains.
The Smart City Coupe (above) — later renamed ForTwo — went into production in 1998 with a 599cc three-cylinder petrol engine hooked up to a difficult-to-drive six-speed automated manual transmission.
Across its three generations, the ForTwo was available as a hatch and soft-top convertible. Interestingly, after a few modifications, the ForTwo was one of the few foreign-made vehicles that was classed as a kei car in Japan.
Although the ForTwo sold steadily throughout its run, the brand struggled to break even, and Mercedes-Benz sold a 50 per cent stake to Geely in 2019.
As part of the joint venture, new Smart vehicles will be styled by Mercedes-Benz and engineered by Geely. In order to make the electric-only marque profitable, this new generation of Smart cars are built in China with Smart’s original factory in Hambach, France sold to Ineos to produce the Grenadier SUV and Grenadier Quartermaster ute.
Although the ForTwo didn’t revolutionise the city car segment like its original developers had hoped, it did spawn a bunch of copy cats, including the Toyota iQ that ceased production in 2015. Others, like the Bestune Pony and Wuling Hongguang, continue to compete at the bottom end of the Chinese EV market.
Smart returned to the Australian market last year after a nine year hiatus with the #1 and #3 electric SUVs.
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