Paul Tan's Automotive Industry News

Renault to help smart with next generation forfour

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smart forfour

Mercedes-Benz’s platform partner for its next smart car set for a 2013 debut will be Renault. “It’s a key component in plans to grow the Smart brand. We’re looking to diverge into other potentially lucrative market segments, and not only in Europe but on a worldwide basis, including North America,” said a Mercedes-Benz official to ANE.

Renault will be supplying smart a platform for a new four-seater smart (effectively a replacement for the smart forfour) and the word is that it will be a modified version of the Clio II platform that underpins the Renault Twingo, though I would have thought the Renault-Nissan B platform (Clio III, Latio, Logan, etc) would be more suitable in size for a smart forfour replacement.

The smart forfour was a hatchback based on the Mitsubishi Colt and was produced at Mitsubishi’s Dutch NedCar plant. Who knows, we could also see an electric version using technology from the Nissan Leaf.

23 Comments »

  1. HARDRISK said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 9:36 am

    yahoo akhirnya no 1

  2. fenzo60 said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 12:07 pm

    its a fun car to drive.

  3. flopsy said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 1:31 pm

    good looking car

  4. JULIAN_LEE said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 2:19 pm

    u guys dont even fucking read the story.
    anyway bmw better

  5. barca said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 3:17 pm

    it’s really [insert suitable adjective] to be no.1.

    got prize aaaa HARDRISK?

  6. Elvis said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 3:28 pm

    I have tried the smart car before. Nothing to shout about it. And this car looked like Myvi to me. Not surprise if Perodua also insert electric engine to Myvi since basically you only need to change the gasoline engine. In fact, alot of electric car hardcore fans in US already replaced their gasoline engine with electric powerplant. Yet GM pretend that this technology is so difficult and advanced, what a joke! I think Mercedes Benz also realised that in near future, most buyers will convert to small and compact cars, or electric cars. No choice really, we all know that easy oil is getting harder to find. You have to drill in middle of the sea to get it in another 15 years, and imagine the price of this commodity in coming years.

  7. 4KIM said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 3:35 pm

    4 spoke.

  8. Alifz said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 5:03 pm

    Savvy-Renault Clio
    Smart 4 Four-Clio 11
    Isetta-Clio 111?

  9. raybrig85 said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 8:23 pm

    to JULIAN LEE…

    ure dumbass…plz read the story too…this is about smart…not about ‘bmw always better’….plz stick to the topic..

  10. mitlanevo said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 11:34 pm

    hopefully that future smart will be smarter than JULIAN LEE……

  11. rear wheel said,

    August 7, 2009 @ 11:58 pm

    Renault is good.. But I can’t afford to buy it..
    The car look like MyVI..

  12. George said,

    August 8, 2009 @ 4:51 am

    What subject is that Julian talking about in here.Suddenly BMW

  13. saki77 said,

    August 8, 2009 @ 10:00 am

    biar je julian lee tu…
    tiap forum mesti cuba cari attention…

  14. msian said,

    August 8, 2009 @ 10:29 am

    hahaha

  15. solarcar said,

    August 8, 2009 @ 2:12 pm

    what? Mercedes-Benz with Renault and Mitsubishi based? what a mix!

  16. fauzi said,

    August 8, 2009 @ 4:00 pm

    How come this tiny car can be sell more than 100K. Kalau la proton bubuh lambang thundercat lepas tu jual dekat Malaysia mesti kena hentam gila.Exora yang besaq gedabak jual 70K lebih pun dah kata mahai.

  17. muryadi said,

    August 9, 2009 @ 2:56 am

    hahaha

  18. Elvis said,

    August 9, 2009 @ 1:23 pm

    This car has been around for few years in Malaysia. Pretty standard looking car with inflated price. Initially was hype up to so called ‘breakthrough’ or something. But once you drive it for sometime, aiyah, samesamelah with Myvi. So dont look at the hype alone, we Malaysian have been driving small cars for decades, no surprise there. Maybe for the americans with their giant size bodies may find this very entertaining just the their harley davidson bikes(i find it odd that small bodied Malaysians trying to ride their oversize Harley, rather buy bikes from Japan which better suit my body frame). As for the price, up to the stupid buyers if they want to pay for the inflamed priced cars.

  19. you a-hole said,

    August 9, 2009 @ 5:15 pm

    julian lee is as ugly as the new 5 series gt

  20. fenzo60 said,

    August 9, 2009 @ 10:16 pm

    Hahaha pity to Julian

  21. Brian said,

    August 9, 2009 @ 10:30 pm

    from which aspect that the forfour does look like Myvi??? …..

  22. P2_permanent_basher said,

    August 10, 2009 @ 10:54 am

    wow, it has been pretty boring in the motor world these few days…

  23. Bob_B78 said,

    August 11, 2009 @ 8:49 am

    This car is much better than myvi anytime. Strong acceleration with good handling for 1.5l and with top speed up to 190 km/h. Can vios or city hit above 180km/h? :)

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