Smart #2 on the way as a new City EV INSPIRED by the Smart ForTwo | Cars UK

Smart, now run by Geely and Mercedes, has delivered three electric SUVs so far, but now it’s back to its roots with the Smart #2 on the way.

It’s more than six years since Smart became a Geely Mercedes project as Mercedes-Benz sought a way to turn the perpetually loss-making Smart brand into a commercial success, with plans for Mercedes to design the cars and Geely to provide what goes under the skin.

Rather than deliver a new take on the ForTwo, the new partnership decided electric SUVs were the way to go, with the first fruits the Smart #1 three years later, an electric SUV about the size of a MINI Countryman.

That was followed by the Smart #3 – not, as might have been expected, the Smart #2 – a year later, a bigger electric SUV about the size of a VW ID.5,  with a further new electric SUV – the Smart #5 – bigger still and around the size of a Volvo XC60 revealed earlier this year.

It now seems clear that Smart’s nomenclature is designed to indicate that odd-numbered Smarts are SUVs and even-numbered Smarts something else, and that something else is on the way as Smart start to tease a new Smart #2 with the image above, an A-Segment two-seat City car very much in the mould of the Smart ForTwo.

Dirk Adelmann, CEO Smart Europe, said:

The confirmation of our ‘project: two’ and the upcoming launch of the smart #2 marks a milestone moment for the smart brand on a global scale. The smart #2 will shape a new era of individual urban automobility, especially in classic smart cities like Rome, London or Paris.

The new Smart #2 will arrive in 2026, so it’s likely this tease is an indication that a #2 Concept will be revealed at the Munich Motor Show this month.