After Geely Deal, Smart Appears To Be Prepping A New Electric SUV

Daimler’s Smart division has been going back and forth about launching an SUV for what seems like for ever, but their dream could finally come true in a couple of years.

Together with its new Chinese partners at Geely, Volvo’s parent company, which purchased 50 percent of the Smart brand earlier this year, Daimler seems to have geared up on the development of a high-riding vehicle that will join the all-new ForTwo and ForFour which, according to Autocar, are due in a few months.

Nothing else was reported on the new Smart model, so we will have to wait and see whether it will be a high-riding version of the new ForFour, or if it will adopt a different design identity. We’re inclined to say it’s the latter scenario, but no matter the plan, it should share the architecture with the 2021 ForTwo and ForFour. The vehicle is understood to be put together in China, from where it will be exported to global markets.

Speaking about the Smart brand with the British publication, the Mercedes research and development chief, Markus Schafer, said: “Working with Geely, we have access to larger scales, Geely’s know-how and close cooperation with Volvo and our know-how of Smart and its history.” He also explained that “we have the genes of the brand, and with engineering and design power, we are off to a good start. In terms of product, I would say ‘stay tuned’.”

There’s no way of knowing whether those last two words are another way of confirming the Smart electric SUV or if the exec is speaking about another model, so we’ll just ‘stay tuned’ for more information on the topic.

Note: The ForTwo SUV illustrations pictured were independently made by Aksyonov Nikita and are in no way endorsed by, made or related to Smart