The Smart car brand is in transition. The Smart classic Fortwo will soon fall victim to the reorientation.
Anyone planning to buy a new Smart Fortwo in the near future should hurry. As the online portal “Smart Emotion” reports, orders for the small electric two-seater will only be accepted until the end of April 2023. However, due to long waiting lists, production at the French plant in Hambach is scheduled to continue until mid-2024. The era of Smart models produced in Europe will also end with the last Fortwo built in Hambach. At the beginning of 2022, the microcar manufacturer discontinued the Forfour, which was built jointly with Renault. At the end of 2022, the new SUV model #1 followed, which is produced by Geely in China and at the same time marks the start of a realignment of the brand. Smart has been a joint venture since 2019, in which Daimler and Geely each hold a 50 percent stake. The cars of the once 100 percent Daimler subsidiary will come from China in the future. The plant in Hambach was therefore sold to Ineos Automotive in 2021 and now serves as a production site for the Grenadier off-road vehicle. At the same time, Smart Fortwo will continue to be produced locally.
source site-13