The city car fortwo will have a successor: smart #2 is preparing for the premiere

The two-seater model of the “smart” brand was retired last year, now dealers continue to sell off the remaining cars.

< p>The smart brand originally belonged to the German automaker Mercedes-Benz (formerly Daimler), but in the last decade it was transferred to the Chinese holding Geely. The result was the creation in 2019 of smart Automobile, a joint venture between Mercedes and Geely. The first-born of smart in 1998 was the two-seat city car fortwo. Over the past years, the model has managed to change generations a couple of times, the current third generation debuted in 2014, this model underwent an update in 2019, and officially left the line this year.

In the photo: smart EQ fortwo

It was previously reported that this little German brand will have a successor, although it will be produced in China; Geely is mainly responsible for its development. The heir will have a different name — an index “fitted” into the current completely “green” model range of the brand. It is expected that this new product will be called smart #2 (internal name — Project 2).

Let us remind you that the first-born of the brand after the relaunch under the wing of Geely was the subcompact SUV smart #1, which debuted in April 2022. A year later, a larger coupe-shaped crossover smart #3 was introduced, and last month the manufacturer declassified another SUV, which was given the name smart #5. All of these models are based on the modular SEA platform developed by Geely.

The fact that the city car, which has replaced two generations, will have an heir, Smart Europe CEO Dirk Adelmann told the British publication Autocar. “The current fortwo expired two months ago. It would be great to have a direct successor — we don’t have one, but we are working on it,” he said. According to the head of the “old world” division, one of the main markets for this subcompact new product will be Europe.

On photo: smart EQ fortwo interior

Dirk Adelmann noted that smart #2 will be significantly smaller in size compared to the smart #1 SUV, which could lead to confusion. According to him, the “two” was “reserved” for the successor to the smart fortwo, since the number itself is a reference to its predecessor. A representative of the brand also explained that odd numbers will be assigned to SUVs and cross-coupes, and even numbers will be reserved for “other products.”

In the photo: smart #1 and smart #3

Official details about the “filling” of the future new product will appear later. According to Dirk Adelmann, smart is now looking for a partner company with which it will be possible to share the costs of development (including platforms) and production. There is no information even about the indicative price tag yet.

Note that at the end of last fall information appeared that the French group Renault could again become a partner of smart (one of the proposed joint projects is the production of the new Twingo) , however, Renault denied this information.