Smart has already explored several options to find an existing platform to build a new electric car on. It has not been successful.
Last month, Smart stopped the assembly line that has been spitting out the small ForTwo models onto the roads since 1998.
However, there is little help for the German-Chinese brand, which has not yet been able to find the platform on which the ForTwo model's successor is to be built.
That's what Automotive News writes.
Smart's managing director Dirk Adelmann explains to the media that a replacement only makes sense if you can find a partner to share the costs of the development with.
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But right now it seems that Smart is pretty much standing on its own two feet. Or perhaps you should say wheels.
In any case, the brand, neither as one or the other parent in the form of Mercedes and Chinese Geely, has been able to find a solution that Smart is satisfied with.
– Two months ago we started working on a new dedicated platform on which a new Smart with two seats can be built. But we need help if it is to be possible.
– In the end, it looks like we have to build a platform, because the one we're looking for doesn't exist yet, says Dirk Adelmann.
For the same reason, Smart will not set a date for when you can be ready with a new ForTwo. This applies even if you have been in dialogue with others than Mercedes and Geely.
Renault has also been in the picture. But the French have not been able or willing to offer what Smart is looking for.
Until March this year, the last Smart ForTwo for the time being was built at the so-called 'Smartville' factory in France. However, that factory is not going to stand still.
In 2022, they started building the Ineos Grenadier SUV. A car that should actually have been built in Wales with a straight six from BMW. In the end, however, Ineos only kept its agreement with BMW.
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