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

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.