Information that the younger models of Renault and smart may become related again was published yesterday by the French newspaper L'Argus and several indirect signs indicate that a new phase of cooperation between the two brands is quite possible.
The smart brand and Renault began collaborating in the last decade: smart was then completely under the control of Mercedes-Benz, but the development of the new generation of small cars fortwo and forfour was largely supervised by Renault: as part of this cooperation, launched with the aim of reducing engineering and production costs, smart forfour had a clone in the form of the third generation Renault Twingo in 2014.
Related rear-engine smart forfour of the second generation and Renault Twingo third generation 1/2 
Related rear-engine smart forfour second generation and third generation Renault Twingo 2/2
Under the management of Mercedes-Benz, the smart brand did not achieve any significant commercial success and in 2019 it was relaunched as part of an equal joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely, called smart Automobile. In this joint venture, Geely is engaged in the development and production of new smart models, and Mercedes-Benz oversees only their design, that is, in fact, smart has become one of the subsidiary brands of the Chinese holding.
Smart is now a strictly electric vehicle brand, under the leadership of Geely two models have already been created and launched on the market: the subcompact crossover smart #1 and the slightly larger coupe-shaped crossover smart #3, they are based on the modular SEA platform developed by Geely. In October, smart announced a junior two-seater model, smart #2, which will replace the smart fortwo, which has already left the market. Production of smart #2 will not begin until 2025, because a new platform is being developed for it (the SEA platform is too large for a two-seater model).
So, according to L'Argus information received from insiders, the new platform for smart #2 is none other than the AmpR Small, announced in mid-November for the fourth-generation electric Renault Twingo. AmpR Small is a simplified version of the CMF-B EV platform from the future Renault 5. The new Twingo should hit the market in 2026, at the same time, according to L'Argus, smart #2 will also appear.
Fourth generation Renault Twingo prototype
The L'Argus note was published yesterday, and today Renault denied the information contained in it. French colleagues did not delete the note, but simply added a refutation from Renault to the original text, which is quite reasonable, because rumors about the renewal of the partnership between Renault and smart may still turn out to be true. There are several prerequisites for this: last summer, Renault and Geely launched a giant global motor joint venture, and in October it was officially announced that new Renault models for South Korea will receive the CMA platform from Volvo (the Swedish company Volvo Cars, we recall, has been part of the holding Geely).
Prototype of the fourth generation Renault Twingo
In general, friendship between Renault and Geely is expanding and strengthening, the new Twingo and smart #2 in the light of this friendship may well become related. Waiting too long for smart #2 also indirectly indicates that the Geely holding is not developing a platform for it independently. The Chinese today work much faster than the Europeans, but in connection with smart #2 there is no urgent need to bring a new product to the market as soon as possible, but the Chinese like to save money on development and production no less than the Europeans.
According to L'Argus, it is the collaboration with smart that will allow the price of the new Twingo to be lowered below 20,000 euros. Meanwhile, Dongfeng's freshly minted electric car brand Nammi will launch a well-equipped, smart-like hatchback on the European market next year, priced at €18,990.
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