Smart Brand in Danger, Report Claims

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Pick your jaw up off the floor. The Smart brand, officially spelled with a lowercase “s” that we can’t abide by, is now 20 years old, but seems destined to leave this earth before it has to start worrying about the big three-oh.

Smart’s development partner, Renault, is reportedly entertaining thoughts of leaving the relationship, opening the door to Smart’s death… or substitution.

Sources tell Automobile that Renault plans to hit the bricks once the current co-developed models run their course. Besides the familiar Smart Fortwo (the only model sold in North America), the Daimler-owned brand sells the four-seater Forfour overseas. The same architecture is used for the Renault Twingo, a more conventionally styled micro-mini city car.

Currently, Smart is in the process of converting both of its models to electric propulsion, though the Fortwo has already gone green in the U.S. and Canada (much to the detriment of its already paltry sales).

Should Renault get up and leave, that makes Smart’s future after 2026 mighty hazy. It’s possible that Daimler might keep the brand alive, or simply cull it altogether. A third option would see the parent company create a product offering in the Mercedes-Benz division to retain a presence in the tiny green car segment.

It’s worth noting, as Automobile does, that Chinese auto giant Geely owns a 9.7 percent stake in Daimler, and Geely knows a thing or two about developing and selling small electric cars. The possibilities created by Geely’s presence can’t be discounted.

Should the Smart name disappear from certain Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S. and Canada, little would change on North American roads. Through the end of September, Mercedes-Benz USA recorded 959 Smart Fortwo sales, down 63.6 percent over the same period last year. In Canada, Fortwo sales dropped 4.7 percent over the first nine months of 2018, for a total of 264 units.

The EPA rates the 2018 Smart EQ Fortwo’s range at 58 miles.

[Image: Daimler AG]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Garak Garak on Oct 24, 2018

    Smart has never made a decent product. The cars have always been unreliable and have poor fuel economy for their class. I'm surprised the brand's survived this far.

    • MoDo MoDo on Oct 24, 2018

      It only survived because they are built in a heavily subsidized French factory - and the electr5ic ones are (or were) used as carbon credit fodder for Mercedes Benz.

  • MRF 95 T-Bird MRF 95 T-Bird on Oct 24, 2018

    Smart could always replace it with its platform mate the roomier Renault Twingo. I’ve always had a soft spot for the roadster version that we never received in the states. It’s nearing the 25 year make for importation.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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