Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler AG, is optimistic that the company’s Smart subsidiary will post a profit for the first time ever thanks to the upcoming ForFour city car.
“The new ForFour is an extended ForTwo and has all the characteristics of the new ForTwo. These include a wider interior relative to the length of the car, a rear-mounted engine and several very smart ideas of benefit to customers. So the new vehicle has all the genes of a Smart,” Zetsche told AutoNews.
However, while Zetche expects the Smart ForFour to be a commercial success, there are no current plans to bring it to the United States. This reminds us of the first generation ForFour, which wasn’t available in the U.S. either. Launched in 2004 as a B-segment car for Europe, the ForFour was only produced until June 2006, with just 133,000 units reaching customers.
The second-generation ForFour is a radical shift from its predecessor. Co-developed with Renault, it shares many parts with the Renault Twingo, including the rear-mounted engines, and will be built in the same plant as the French car, in Renault’s Novo Mesto facility in Slovenia.
Despite sharing up to 70 percent of its parts with the Twingo, Zetsche is adamant the ForFour will be a true Smart with a competitive price and with a unique selling proposition “which you cannot get from competitors.” While he didn’t give specific sales targets, he said production of the ForFour is a feasible plan that could help Smart return its first profit ever.
By Dan Mihalascu
Note: Rendering courtesy of Damian Sebastian
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