According to a German media, it would be impossible to order a Smart Fortwo from April. Perhaps this is really the case on the other side of the Rhine, but France is not concerned.
According to our colleagues from the German magazine Auto Zeitung, our friends across the Rhine would no longer be able to order a Fortwo from next month. But “due to long delivery times, production will continue until the middle of 2024”. After checking with Smart France, one of these two pieces of information is false, at least as far as we French are concerned.
Orders still possible in France in 2023 but…
Perhaps the notebooks will really be closed in April in Germany. But on our territory, it will still be possible to order this vehicle, and this, throughout the year 2023. What Smart France has however confirmed to us is that production will gradually stop in the course of next year… without any precise date being communicated to us. We will have to wait to find out more.
Long live the next generation
What is certain is that it will be necessary to consider replacing it. Its entrails, shared with the current Renault Twingo, are not new. Deeply restyled in 2019, when the brand turned its back on thermals, this version was launched in 2014. 9 years for a car is not nothing, even if there is even crazier in the category (the thermal Fiat 500, not to name it, which dates from 2007). And if it is almost certain that it would have come out of it commercially with the maintenance of thermal engines, life is not rosy since it is no longer offered only in electric. . Especially since at Mercedes, the parent company, a Mercedes Class C plug-in hybrid now has a larger capacity battery… sales have continued to plummet. Last year, 10 times less than Zero Emission Twingo sold on our territory. For its 4-seater Forfour version, the switch to electric will have been so difficult that it disappeared from the catalog towards the end of 2021.
To date, we still do not know if the German manufacturer has planned to replace the Fortwo, but it would be hard to see it parting with its iconic model. Only thing, if there is a replacement, it should logically lose its name to adopt a “#” and a number like recently the not really so small SUV #1. A #2 no doubt. To be continued.
Also read on Auto-Moto.com:
Smart #3: big leak before the official presentation
Smart #1 Brabus: 428 hp for the sporty electric SUV!
Smart test #1 2023: electric SUV in co-production
