smart says goodbye to traditional e-models

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smart says goodbye to traditional e-models-says

With the new smart, which is scheduled to make its debut in Germany in early 2023, Daimler’s small car brand is also changing its sales. The physical dealer network is to be thinned out considerably, and in future sales and leasing are to be increasingly carried out digitally. Furthermore, they plan to distance themselves from traditional models step by step. After the smart ForTwo and ForFour were phased out as combustion engines in 2020, the E version of the ForFour is now also being phased out.

Thus, the small car brand from Daimler only offers the closed two-seater ForTwo and as a convertible. A direct successor for the larger four-seater is not planned. This is evident from the fact that the ForFour can no longer be configured on the smart website. The model, originally designed as a combustion engine, was created by Renault in Slovenia with drive technology from the French. Production has now reportedly been discontinued. Understandable. The response from the market wasn’t particularly positive. Which was also due to the fact that the Stromer was sold at a high price of 22.600 euros, with a comparatively short range of 153 km (NEDC cycle).

In mid-July, smart presented a first photo of the all-electric SUV concept vehicle. The e-SUV, known as Concept #1, is the harbinger of a completely newly developed smart generation. On the eve of the IAA 2021 in Munich, the time had come and smart presented its Concept #1 to the public. The SUV concept vehicle takes the smart brand into the high-growth small and compact car segment. smart is currently holding back when the series version of the Concept #1 will be on the road and also with regard to technical data.

The decision on the future of smart was made back in March 2018. And this future lies in China from now on. To this end, Daimler sold 50% of its stake to the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) in order to jointly establish a globally oriented 50:50 joint venture. The aim is to further develop smart, the pioneer of urban mobility, as the leading brand for electromobility.

First, let’s take a look at the current models. It doesn’t seem clear how long the smart ForTwo Coupe and the convertible version will continue to be offered. Because the plant for the electric cars in France was sold to the off-road vehicle manufacturer Ineos Automotive in 2020. First of all, the ForTwo will continue to roll off the assembly line in contract production; according to Daimler, no decision has yet been made on when it will be phased out.

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8 thoughts on “smart says goodbye to traditional e-models”

  1. The brand has been ruined cleanly. There is definitely a need for tiny city cars that people would pay a lot of money for.

    But the quality of the vehicles was always rather mediocre and the marketing just wasn’t smart enough and geared towards big city dwellers. Reserved transverse parking spaces in 1a locations in the best big cities would definitely have been feasible on private property. With charging option. You would have had to invest there. The customers have money. And the brand could have been electrified very quickly. After all, that was the basic concept.

    And even in modern times with the last generation, nobody understood what they want to do with this ugly four-door. 30 kWh would also easily go into the ForTwo, but you didn’t want to. And the preconditioning software had never had anything like mediocre reliability.

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  2. This little syphatic thing is brutally run over by SUVs.
    both what is new with the “Smart” badge and the work,
    in which the little one is built.
    Smart used to be the reason I signed up for car sharing, but Mercedes
    didn’t pursue it consistently FOR the city and FOR the people. They only have theirs
    Combustion engine overproduction driven through my city. The E -Smart played practically no role at all.
    Yes, but the thing absolutely has to go, all the pseudo off-road vehicles are coming,
    which are advertised as soooo suitable for the city.
    After all, 1 SUV fits in 2 Smart parking spaces.

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  4. The problem affects all German OEMs equally:
    The main problem is not the supposedly missing charging infrastructure (see VDA, BMW etc.) but the bottleneck is still the batteries, which still have to be bought very expensively.
    As even David correctly stated, significantly larger batteries could be installed in small cars.
    The best example of this is the i3 from BMW, which once started with a range of just over 100km – the end of the flagpole was then 330km WLTP – but not the space requirement, but the increasingly worse / more negative margin with a larger battery has the vehicle done the job.

    It’s not because of the demand that eUp or something similar was discontinued!!!

    It’s also not due to the semiconductors that are often used (how few of them does a poorly equipped eUP need compared to a fully equipped EQS??? )

    The rechargeable batteries are and will remain the bottleneck – they are too expensive to buy and not available in sufficient quantities for the exponential growth.

    The big question will be:
    which car manufacturers were able to position themselves well for the future and which were not!!!

    Time will tell 😉

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  5. I have my own Smart forfour, EZ02/2020. The 44 came about because I use it again and again with my daughter and wife for short trips in addition to work. I enjoy the good maneuverability of my Smartie, despite the 4-seater.
    A “mini-SUV”, and that still from China, doesn’t come into my garage.
    For me, that means switching to other brands in the small car segment in the future.
    It’s a pity Daimler, as long as you don’t produce Stromer the size of the Smart EQ in Germany or Europe, we won’t be able to do business anymore.

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  6. If the word if weren’t..
    If Daimler had made a MoPf for the Fortwo a year ago with maybe a 35kWh battery, with a CCS charger, which would then have drawn 75 kW at its peak; with contemporary infotainment, a reversing camera that doesn’t only come on when you’ve already parked, real one-pedal driving – then the brand might still be alive. But wanting to sell another car in 2021 at the 2012 level is too revealing. The has only sold as a third car for the bacon belt wealthy pensioners, instead of in the cities.
    What is done now is only corpses. Smart was always the dwarf – is not a dwarf, it’s not a smart. Actually a really cool USP and one hats nevertheless permanently bounces.
    Now comes a 08/15 Chinabomber in direct sales – what are you promising at Daimler? Sold the last 50% of Geely, makes the department densely and works the book.

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  7. I ordered the same for the current Fortwo EQ Cabrio (11/2018). When the ongoing leasing expires, the new is there. I always found that good, and even for smaller tours into the surrounding area absolutely sufficient. The often criticized low range, yes that’s true, which could be better but with built-in quick-buttock is the small yes also in a tight hour back. You have to plan the shop well. And a smart from China does not come to the house …

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