New smart fortwo and forfour unveiled

Although the official presentation will only take place in October, at the Paris Motor Show, smart has unveiled the new generation of the fortwo and forfour models arriving in the market next year. Both models are part of a strategy to revitalize the city car brand of Mercedes.

The new generation of smart city cars was developed through a partnership of engineering and scale production between Mercedes-Benz and Renault  that has already produced its first results with the third generation Twingo, a sister car of the new forfour.

The new fortwo and forfour intend to make smart's sales flourish. Although the fortwo has been on the market since 1998, the brand has had difficulty overcoming an average of sales of 100,000 units per year, a value that is a fifth below the original goals of the company.

The new forfour will play an important role in increasing sales, a strategy that has been tried before, but failed and led to the restructuring of the company due to poor sales of the four-door model.

The new generation of both models, and the Renault Twingo, were built on the same platform, with the goal of generating greater economies of scale, increase sales and achieve higher profits. A great feature of the new fortwo is the placement of the engine at the rear of the vehicle to further optimize space.

The new fortwo maintains the same basic layout of its predecessor, with a compact body two doors and space for two passengers. The new forfour shares the same front design, but has a longer wheelbase which allows the introduction of an extra pair of doors and space for two additional passengers.

The two new smart models receive a well-defined bonnet with a windscreen significantly less inclined than the previous fortwo. Still both models maintain the traditional design features such as the exposed smart safety capsule Tridion that allows both models to offer options of two-tone paint.

The new generations also have several novelties with regard to the design inspired by the latest concepts presented by smart. One of the most notable aspects is the new grille with honeycomb detailing. Other features include front and rear ends with rounded headlights with LED graphics.

Despite the large number of amendments to the new generation fortwo remains the same length as its predecessor, with 2695mm. The wheelbase was slightly increased to 1873mm, more than 8mm larger. In order to improve stability at higher speeds the new fortwo is 100mm wider than the previous generation, which also allows increased interior space and axles to 1600mm. The height remained intact at 1550mm.

The second generation of the forfour, with a length of 3490mm is 255 mm shorter than its predecessor. The two cars share the 1,660 mm in width and 1.550mm in height.

In order to reduce development costs of the new smart models chose not to offer an option of a diesel engine, in both fortwo and forfour. The models will initially be marketed with a Mitsubishi engine of 999cc 71hp and a turbocharged 898cc three-cylinder petrol engine with 60 and 90hp options. Smart is planning to launch later an electric engine through a partnership with Tesla, but it should only arrive in 2016.

All engines are combined with a manual five-speed gearbox as standard. Customers will also be able to choose a gearbox dual-clutch six-speed, a first for both fortwo and forfour.