Nowadays, having an SUV in you line-up has become mandatory. Almost every car manufacturer offers at least one crossover model alongside its regular products – even Aston Martin is considering it.
In fact, it’s easier to name the manufacturers which don’t offer these kind of vehicles. Smart, for instance, is one of the few. But not for long, it seems…
According to Autocar magazine: “Smart is seriously considering building an SUV or a crossover”. Why? That’s simple; because Smart wants to take advantage of the increasing demand for such vehicles.
In addition to that, in order for Mercedes and Renault to make their brand new drivetrain profitable, they require an annual production run of at least 300,000 units. And let’s face it, the ForFour, Fortwo and the Twingo will not achieve these kind of sale figures, at least not for now. So, the logical thing to do is to expand the range of vehicles built upon the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive Smart-Twingo platform.
That means the future car will presumably share the same base as the three models mentioned above. Needless to say, we’ve never seen a rear-engine SUV, but then again, everything is possible. Anyway, if Smart will decide to carry on the task, the “whatchamacallit” will not arrive sooner than 2018.
So, is the German manufacturer playing it… smart?
Note*: Current Smart Fortwo pictured
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