Mercedes ends production of the Smart Fortwo
- Mercedes ended production of the battery electric Smart Fortwo on March 29, 2024, which remained the only model of the Smart brand still produced in Europe, after the end of the Smart Fortwo with a thermal engine and the Smart Forfour with a thermal engine and battery electric.
- The Smart Fortwo (A-segment sedan) which was produced in France (in Hambach) since 1998 was the shortest model in European automobile production (excluding L6/L7 segment cars), with a length of 2.70 m (2.50 m for the first models). Its weight did not exceed 850 kilos in the thermal version and 1,150 kilos in the electric version (750 kilos in the thermal version for the first models). In total, more than 2.2 million Smart Fortwos were produced and sold, but it appears that the model was never profitable for the carmaker due to sales below 100,000 units per year on average, while the targets were set at 150,000 units per year.
- The future of the brand now depends on the battery electric models #1 and #3 produced in China (in Xi'an, in Shaanxi province) by the Geely group in JV with Mercedes. But these models are part of a completely different universe: #1 measures 4.27 m long and weighs 1,800 kilos, while #3 measures 4.40 m long and weighs 1,900 kilos. In reality, #1 is positioned in the B-segment and #3 in the C-segment. There will probably be no more Smarts in the A-segment, for profitability reasons.
- It will be interesting to know whether customers of these models will continue to use this type of cars or towards which models they will move in the future, given that the A-segment has been shrinking for several years, following the withdrawal of most models.