The world’s favorite purveyor of trendy city cars, Smart, has been on a weird path for the past few years. It has gone all-in on the crossover craze, printing out three different crossovers, and even ending production of its iconic city car, the Fortwo. Smart is finally going back to its roots with the official announcement that the Fortwo is coming back as an all-new city car called the #2. The company says not only is this Fortwo-like car feasible, but it can also be sold to today’s demanding car buyers.
If you’re getting a sense of déjà vu here, I’ll explain. Back in March, I wrote about how Smart says that it wants to bring the Fortwo back and was actively looking into developing its successor. However, the caveat offered by Smart back then was that the new Fortwo wasn’t going to happen unless the company figured that it could make money off of it. While the Fortwo might be a city car icon, it hasn’t always been a money maker. This time, Smart is taking a pragmatic approach.
That’s why I’m so excited to tell you that Smart says it completed its feasibility check and is giving a fourth generation of its city car the green light for production. The Fortwo is returning for real this time!
There’s No Smart Without A Fortwo
Smart has been through quite the ride since the brand entered production in 1998. The company had a trendy MCC City Coupe (later the Fortwo) city car, and then added the Forfour hatch and Roadster sports car, but didn’t make money on all of them. Its proposed cash cow, the Formore SUV, couldn’t go into production in time to turn the company’s fortunes around.
According to MotorTrend, which cited German business newspaper Handelsblatt, Smart was terrible at making money. In just the period between 2003 and 2006, Smart burned $5.2 billion ($8,332,587,301 in 2025) of then-parent DaimlerChrysler’s money. Smart was liquidated and then restructured by Mercedes-Benz. The Forfour and Roadster were killed while the Formore was cancelled. Only the Fortwo survived, which entered its second generation in 2007.
Smart had big plans for America, too. The Formore SUV was supposed to be Smart USA’s money maker. Now, the Fortwo had to represent Smart in America all by itself. Even back in 2007, journalists doubted if America was going to warm up to a two-seat city car as Smart’s only product. After all, American cities are built around the automobile, and there are wide open spaces between these cities. Sadly, the doubters were eventually proven correct in 2019 after Smart pulled out of America after a decade of slow sales.
On the global stage, 2019 also marked the point when Daimler sold 50 percent of Smart to Geely, and the rebooted Smart promised to do more and go further than it did before.
The new Smart is pretty much an entirely different company. Smart sold its famous Smartville factory in France to Ineos, and then eventually moved engineering and production to China. The first, second, and third new Smarts under this new era were not city cars, but electric crossovers. In 2024, production of the Fortwo, which was being built by Ineos under contract, ended. Now, Smart was all SUV. Even the company’s naming schemes changed. Previously, Smart’s names were based on the purpose of the vehicle, like Fortwo and Forfour. Now, the names are centered around social media hashtags.
Comeback Kid
Sure, these SUVs are impressive. The fastest of Smart’s SUVs has over 600 HP, and Smart is also now working on a plug-in hybrid that will have 1,000 miles of total range. However, Smart without the Fortwo is like Porsche without the 911, and it seems Smart knows this. So, the Fortwo is finally coming back as the #2.
Here’s what the press copy says:
[S]mart has made a big decision in favor of a small vehicle: The premium intelligent electric automotive brand will create an all-new city two-seater. The smart #2 will extend the product portfolio of the company with an ultra-compact vehicle in the A-segment, marking smart’s return to the segment it defined. The new all-electric model will integrate mindful technology solutions while evolving the unique characteristics that made the original smart fortwo an urban icon. With the smart #2 set to lineup alongside the smart #1, #3, and #5, the inventor of the original city car underlines its commitment to diverse customer needs – proving that smart comes in many forms.
What’s interesting is that Smart is not just taking Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture, which underpins Smart’s SUVs, and scaling it down to city car size. Instead, Smart claims the new car will be built on an all-new architecture that’s being developed in-house for subcompact cars. Smart says that the new car is in its final design and development phase and will be built in China.
Until now, the only official teaser photo of this upcoming car was a rough sketch hidden in the Instagram post above. Smart isn’t showing the design just yet, but is now giving us silhouette images. If the production car looks anything like these teasers, the #2 will probably be slightly bigger than the third-generation Fortwo, but roughly the same shape.
Earlier this year, Auto Express spoke with Smart Europe CEO Dirk Adelmann, who shared some details about Smart’s expectations for the new car. Smart believes the city car segment is a growing one, and Smart doesn’t want to be left out. From Auto Express:
“But if we come back with a vehicle that is significantly smaller in size than #1 and #3, then we will make sure it’s a true Smart. That doesn’t have to be retro; Smart doesn’t usually do retro – we are looking at what’s next,” he said.
Given the separation Smart has created between the visually similar #1 and #3, and the new, boxier #5, we expect the firm’s designers to take the new city car in a different direction stylistically.
That said, there are certain non-negotiables, according to Adelmann: “We will definitely have some Smart-family elements,” he told us. “Like frameless doors or the space concept; we’ll put the wheels in the corners. That we will keep, if we go in that direction.”
Adelmann told Auto Express that Smart is targeting the premium end of the market and is targeting a price of around £20,000 (about $26,811 at current exchange rates). Adelmann originally said that the #2 could be delivered by the end of the decade, but this new press release says Smart is targeting a production start in late 2026, with sales in China, Europe, and “other selected global markets.”
What are those other selected markets? Smart didn’t say, but I reached out to the company asking about a potential American revival. I will update this story or write a follow-up when I hear back.
I think Smart is now at the point where it could be successful in America. It could bring over one of its electric SUVs, the plug-in hybrid it is developing, and the #2, and I’d bet the company could make some money. Of course, the current tariff situation probably doesn’t help, but who knows where that’s going to be by late 2026.
At any rate, I’m super excited, so you’re definitely going to get more Smart news as stories break. In a world of lumbering pickup trucks and crossovers, Smart is giving a city car another try, and I hope it works out this time!
Scene: The Autopian editor room. A wall covered in screens, scrolling stuff from the Internet. Suddenly something catches the attention of the chief editor.
“Hmmm Smart bringing back the two seater city cars, I wonder who can quickly cook up an arti…”
MERCEDES STREETER CRASHES INTO THE ROOM LIKE THE COOL AID MAN
“You called?”
I’m happy for for Mercedes but really … The #2? The jokes just right themselves!
They won’t really call it #2, will they? That’s the worst idea since TRD.
A part of me hopes they do call it the #2.
I’m sure it will be The Shit…
But they’re expecting people to pronounce it “hashtag 2” not “number 2”.
I could see bringing these things back for other markets, but it doesn’t make sense to bring them back to the US. Much like most Americans, I don’t “get” Smart cars. The previous ones weren’t particularly efficient, they were pretty unrefined, and for most folks, they were incredibly impractical. They seem pointless unless you live in a city and never leave said city. Even then, you could do better. I lived in a city and I drove a GTI, which was an excellent city car (and just a great car in general), and the fuel economy wasn’t far off compared to the Smarts of the time.
That said, the Smart concept makes way more sense to me as an electric car. Actually, electric city cars in general just make a lot of sense to me, but I just don’t see much of a market for them in the US, especially if they’re going to be made in China.
If they could make them retail somehow for 1/2 as much as the cars they’re 1/2 the size of, they would probably have a chance of gaining some traction.
As you mentioned, the biggest issue with the previous efforts was a car that wasn’t super practical, wasn’t more fuel efficient than other larger cars, and was just as expensive (if not more so) which left them with a consumer base of people who were willing to make those trade offs for the ability to park perpendicular to the curb in a parallel street spot, or just wanted something quirky to drive.
Exactly… it’s half the size of a proper car, but somehow the same price (or more). I suppose the size might be an advantage in some situations, but even when I was living in the city, there was never an occasion when I thought “this GTI is too big, I wish I drove a glorified roller skate.”
You can already hear the ad copy:
Smart #2. It’s the shit.
I can’t help but wonder, at least for the US, if this decision is driven by the fact that Fiat owns the entirety of the city car segment in the United States now. There is literally no competition, but Fiat is floundering with a $38k city car and there’s a chance to eat their lunch.
Right now Fiat has its cheapest lil’ bugger priced at $32,500. I’d be impressed if SMART could price the #2 at Mitsubishi Mirage levels but, since they can get away with $29k and still technically be competitive, they probably will. But then there’s the Leaf to consider.
This thing is still a tough sell but I look forward to seeing it happen. If not just for nostalgia.
ButWhy.gif
Look up the car with the absolute lowest owner satisfaction scores and you will find the first ForTwo. I just don’t understand why you’d try to bring back a clearly bad idea – at least in the American market.
Shame on them if they don’t offer it in brown.
Or in ‘chocolate’…
A: The originals were not very good cars to start with. Surprisingly not wonderful fuel economy for such a small car, Pretty awful crude transmissions.
B: I can’t imagine it’ll be a lot better with Geely making them, especially if they want to make another lackluster car.
A: Those two are probably related
This was always my impression as well. Hey, want a tiny car that is slow, with no cargo room? But wait, it also gets mediocre Fuel Economy and poor driving dynamics! Just didnt seem good. I appreciate them now, and the later ones got more refined, but that first step from them really ruined any chance in my eyes. I wouldnt mind a tiny car (I daily a Cruze) if I lived in a dense city, but America is so spread out that its always a tough sell unless you offer insane MPGs.
Its the same reason I feel the EV version coming will fail unless it somehow has nearly 300 miles range, which it won’t, or if it costs in the range of $15k new. Otherwise it has to compete with the cars in the low-mid $20ks, like the civics and corollas of the world. and maybe even the return of the Bolt.
Most the motorcycles I own have bigger or similar engine displacement than the original ForTwo. 1000cc in a motorcycle works wonders, but in a car… yeah, not so much.
I mean, my diesel gets an honest 70 mpg. Smart screwed up by not giving Americans the diesel and settling for the Mitsubishi engine that’s neither that fast nor that efficient.
Either way, those cars are about 20-ish years old now. These will be EVs, so no poor fuel economy to worry about or rough transmissions. The biggest concerns, I think, will be range and price.
Granted, I don’t think a city car alone would be successful in America. That’s why I said that Smart should bring over the SUVs. Those, especially the hybrid, could sell.
If I really wanted a small city car? I’d just get a Chevy Spark. Fully loaded those were $13k cars. I rented one with my brother and we drove it from Nashville to Knoxville. It did great. Easy to keep up on the freeway, had ALL of the whistles and bells including an infotainment system, power mirrors, power seats, etc etc. It was also surprisingly very roomy, even for my 6 ft 3″ brother, who had no issues with legroom.
I brought this up because there’s a right and wrong way to do small cars and the Smart, as cute as it is, is simply not very good at being a small car. When a lowly Chevy Spark shows these things up something’s not exactly right.
If the new one is an EV? Fine. I still don’t see a real compelling reason to buy one, sorry.
They need to take that 600hp powerplant and slap that in the new #2. That would be a fucking hoot.
Literal code brown?
It would do backflips!
A modern smart EV could really work in the US. Maybe they can bring in a car2go style thing they already have that Volvo share thing that I’m not sure anyone ever used or is even a thing anymore. The car2go smarts were everywhere. Merc dealers sold smarts so Volvo certainly could plus it could very easily be a $10k car in China so $20k in the US could be plausible. That’s if geely gets it’s act together and stops trying to act like some type of luxury good maker.
Another not-Chinese car made by the Chinese makes it to Merica. All your telematics are belong to us.
All your telematics belong to the car manufacturer today. That has been the case for more than a decade.
The Chevy Equinox we are leasing is made out of parts from MANY different countries. Its been that way forever- as you indicated.
#2? Gotta love optimists. As Erma Bombeck once wrote: The grass is always greener over the septic tank.
You just know what’s going to happen to that parking spot labelled “Reserved for #2”.
I’ll walk my dog by there, I’m sure he has a really good idea.
Pfft, not mine, that’s the driest spot on the lawn, top soil is probably too thin over top of it
I got another $99 to put down.
I LOVED and miss my ED, every time I see one I squeal (they’re still plentiful in Seattle). The only downside to it was range – 90 on a good day, barely 50 in freezing weather (I had a 44 mile commute and had to stop and charge at dealership once when it was deep-snowing, but holy crap was that fun)
You miss having erectile disfunction? *Inserts drum sting gif* I will see myself out
We have 4 Smart EDs as pool cars at work for driving between locations. Not a car I would want to take on the highway (I have) but they are zippy below 30 mph.
Are they calling it the #2 because they expect to come second in sales, in a category of one?
“They’ve got two brain cells left and they’re both fighting for 3rd place!”
Holy Crap, can’t wait for them to drop a #2 all over the world
If it comes to the US and I can get snow tires for it, I’ll seriously consider getting one.
Why wouldn’t you be able to get snow tyres for it?
The old ForTwo has a low production tire size (at least in the USA). It’s becoming harder and harder to find even 15/16″ sizes in good/nice compounds. Say nothing of the plight of classic car owners with 14s
Yeah, my solution to the hard-to-find tire sizes was to do my own thing. My 2012 came from the factory with optional wider wheels, and the rears were 195/50/15. I decided to just run 195/50/15 on all four corners, which made finding tires so much easier.
Nowadays, I’m running 185/65/15 for a little more cushion.
I just bought a set of 13s for like $300, there’s several brands available despite everyone insisting they arent that that I absolutely, positively, HAD to move to larger wheels
Tire manufacturers don’t always make snow tires in a given size. That was the case for at least one of the Mitsubishi Mirage trims in the states.
God help you when your car is no longer in production. There are tons of awesome small classic cars I didn’t buy because I can’t get street legal snow tires in that size.
I hate the nonsensical numbering scheme. The 2 should not be smaller than the 1 or 3, that just makes no sense at all and I cannot think about that without an eye twitch
Gonna start a car company in which the odd numbers get progressively larger and the even numbers get progressively smaller, but they also alternate types of vehicle to sow further confusion and avoid the strict size progression. This is the 1, our smallest SUV. And the 2 is our largest sedan. The 3 is our smallest wagon, the 4 is our largest pickup, the 5 is our smallest sedan, the 6 is our largest SUV, etc.
We will not release them in numerical order, either.
Now it all makes sense! I appreciate you spelling it out so logically, I get it! And then when it comes time to replace the 1, it will be made smaller and get renamed the 9 right?
Absolutely, and we will release a “reimagined” 1 later, that is somehow the largest wagon instead of the smallest SUV. People trying to shop for our vehicles will give up on using model numbers and just go to the lot and find out the size they want stopped production 3 years ago, but they could buy a much larger, more expensive vehicle today!
Flawless business plan! How do I send you all my money?
Does “#2” not mean the same thing in Germany as it does in the US?
Smart actually wants us to say the pound sign part, as in, “Hashtag 2”, its insanely idiotic, but that’s the choice they’ve made
I suspect if it comes to the US it’ll be as an EV only (if a combustion engined model’s even made anywhere) to sidestep emissions compliance.
As a fellow Smart lover (unlike Mercedes, I have yet to buy one) I’m quite excited to see what this thing looks like.