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Aging Smart Fortwo ED to be sold alongside newer ICE model

The biggest thing to happen to the tiny Smart Fortwo in years is the redesign that we followed in the second half of 2014. While the internal combustion version of the new Fortwo will arrive in in the US later this year, we will have to wait "approximately a year after that" for the the EV version to come here. Mark Webster, the general manager of Smart USA, spoke to AutoblogGreen at the Detroit Auto Show this week, and said that the plug-in version of the 453 (Smart's internal code for the new ForTwo, which replaces the 451) will not be available in the US until late 2016 or perhaps even early 2017. What the means is that for around a year, Smart will sell the new gas-powered Fortwo next to old ED models on the same lot. While this is going to make the plug-in look a bit outdated, at least when the new ED goes on sale, it will come with a similar array of personalization and customization options as the current model does, Webster said. Any information beyond that is something we'll just have to sit and wait for. "Right now, we're not revealing too many statistics of the new cars becasue we're focusing on the EVs we have," he said, adding that, "We sold over 2,000 of these EVs last year and 921 in 2013. So we're doing very well." Smart sold 2,594 Fortwo EDs in the US last year. Despite this delay in getting the new electric Fortwo to market, Webster said that Daimler is very committed to EVs, and he personally also handles the B-Class Electric. "We have other models we're working on down the road that are dedicated EVs," he said, without going into further detail. Check out our review of the new ICE Fortwo here. Featured Gallery Smart Fortwo Electric Drive Vehicles: Detroit 2015 View 14 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2015 Sebastian Blanco / AOL Green Detroit Auto Show smart Electric

Smart celebrates 1.5 million Fortwo models built, prepares to upgrade factory

Smart is celebrating 1.5 million Fortwos built since 1998 at its plant in Hambach, France, before it goes offline for an extended summer break. The 1.5 millionth Fortwo is a white Electric Drive Cabriolet, but it isn't known which market it will be sold in.
The milestone is highlighted by the reason for the extended break, which starts in July and continues through August: The plant will be receiving a 200 million euro upgrade to prepare it for a next-generation Smart vehicle, a newly designed "four-seated urban mobility car" (aka, the 2015 Smart Forfour) that will be available in 2014. In addition, a new, environmentally friendly liquid-paint shop will be built at the plant, replacing the old powder-paint shop and representing the largest individual project in the upgrade, requiring a cool 50 million euro.
For more details on Smart's immediate future, check out the press release below.

Smart #1 electric crossover shown in production form for the first time

Smart will keep a promise it made several years ago when it releases its first entry into the crossover segment. Previewed by the Concept #1 design study unveiled in Munich in 2021, the pocket-sized soft-roader will be called #1 when it makes its debut later in 2022. Let's quickly address one point: Smart didn't reveal whether the model's name should be pronounced "number one" or "hashtag one." "Pound one," maybe? We suppose it ultimately depends on when you were born, and how many hours you spend on social media. What's almost certain is that the company's future models will follow this naming structure, so it's reasonable to assume that a #2 is coming up soon. With that said, the #1 shares several styling cues with the design study that previewed it. It's characterized by thin LED headlights connected by a light bar and an air dam that takes up most of the space on the lower part of the front bumper. Its overall proportions haven't changed much in the past couple of months, and it looks like the two-tone roof will make the leap from the show floor to the showroom floor. The #1 is bigger than the Fortwo, but it remains relatively small, and these dimensions limit the size of the battery pack that Smart can offer. Engineers consequently went to considerable lengths to lower the crossover's drag coefficient in a bid to maximize driving range. While technical specifications haven't been released yet, we know that they fitted door handles mounted flush with the body (and remembered to include an ice-breaking function), and active grille shutters, for example. China-based Geely handled most of the engineering work while Mercedes-Benz took care of the design; Smart has been jointly owned by the two companies since 2020. Smart will introduce the #1 later in 2022, and sales will presumably start shortly after. Production will take place in China, but there's no word yet on whether the model will be sold in America, a market that Smart left in 2019, or if it will exclusively be offered in global markets. Related video: