Smart to sell a Nissan-derived B-segment car in the US

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Smart USA has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan on the collaboration of a new vehicle for sale in the US market. The car, a five-door, B-segment gasoline engine model derived from Nissan, is expected to go on sale in late 2011.

The sketches provide an inkling as to what the future model, which will be built on a new global platform in one of Nissan’s factories in the US, might look like. “The new vehicle will expand smart USA’s product lineup, offering five-seat capacity while maintaining the core principles of efficiency and conservation,” said smart USA president Jill Lajdziak.

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This looks to be the first step in the broad cooperation plan Smart’s parent company Daimler and the Renault-Nissan alliance have planned, as an interim before new products fully jointly developed by Daimler, Nissan and Renault arrive in the market in 2013.

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Jacob Alexander

Jacob Mathew Alexander has been a motoring nut for as far as he can remember and has recently turned his passion into writing. After spending some time in the same industry in the UK, Jacob's work is from a slightly different perspective.

 

Comments

  • mitlanevo on Oct 07, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    marriage of Forfour and Micra…

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  • campro on Oct 07, 2010 at 4:42 pm

    EYE taken from previous C-class generation…peanut shape

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  • Jimmy on Oct 07, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    Good if it is of 1800mm width and with telescopic steering.

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  • They better use DSG and not CVT.

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  • junaidi on Oct 07, 2010 at 6:03 pm

    hmmm now where did I put the picture of that Fiat Bravo SX.

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  • skatax on Oct 07, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    I just don’t understand Daimler no more. You guys are only selling Fortwo at the moment, and just when we all thought they would ‘bungkus’ just like Saab (literally), now comes the re-badged Nissan… for what? Because Swatch boss says so? what-lah.

    Smart has no clear direction whatsoever towards what they want to achieve in the 2010-ish era now. All car engines are downsizing these days and are more fuel efficient than ever, which makes the idea of Smart today = irrelevant and pointless.

    Remember Forfour? Its poor reception is a clear indication that Smart cars is simply unexpandable, a dead-end product by itself.

    I just don’t understand the idea of surviving the brand anymore. Nissan should revoke the idea and just concentrate more on expanding their US luxury-brand Infinity instead.

    Note to Swatch CEO: Stick to what you guys do best. making cheap n cheerful watches that we all like. aha~

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    • wowoooowwwwww on Oct 07, 2010 at 10:52 pm

      please check before you shout anything…swatch boss isn’t involving in smart development anymore la….
      and they are intro another segment of car…not increasing engine size…
      and bout poor reception smart forfour?check your facts again…
      it’s because of cost…selling a unit will not fill their pocket coz of the enpensive material used….thus they discontinue it…
      and you saying smart car not fuel efficient?OMG you must be kidding…
      smart car was one of few first car produced with small engine but with high output+super light weight….
      surf more info before shouting ok…

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    • maslotus on Oct 08, 2010 at 10:27 am

      you sounded ‘smart’ bro…smart car is superb fuel efficient la…don’t mention fortwo which is super fuel saving…a forfour can go for 1300+km in a single 40Litres tank man….
      they discontinued it last time due to high cost…they even come out with full electric forfour in 2005…the problem was they launch it too early that compare to now many vehicles in B segment are actually following it’s tech…
      read some article bro…wikipedia may help you too….aha!

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      • KevinTan on Oct 08, 2010 at 9:50 pm

        he may have a point here. if swatch is no longer interested with smart cars, then why they still want to retain the two-tone colors? the principal brand isn’t there anymore, so the philosophy seems a bit odd now.

        i used to think smart is ‘smart’. but when they pulled out ForFour due to expensive overheads, i just think they are not SMART anymore. (joking)

        i’ve been in my friend’s ForFour (she bought it cheap; i think it was 65k only for used ones) and the plastics are nasty. it just don’t justify the initial price tag. another reason why ForFour flops, also why used ForFour are so cheap these days.

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        • wowoooowwwwww on Oct 09, 2010 at 12:22 am

          all the material used are recyclable…
          try comparing every single bit of the car to it’s sister(Mitsubishi colt) which is 70% same and you should know how high quality is the car…
          if you know what the material used for those supercar and those gt cars…the car is using same material…that’s why it is expensive…
          the lower 2nd hand value is due to the clearance stock la….aiya follow some automotive news pls and read more….
          explore more stuff and you’ll know what I mean…

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  • paultan fan on Oct 08, 2010 at 9:17 am

    nice….. cant wait for Paul Tan to review it in 2011 :-)

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  • misai omar on Oct 08, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    what this ? diinspirasi dr seekor katak puru ke ?

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  • iampaultanfan on Oct 09, 2010 at 12:48 am

    aiya argue for what?tell you guys…
    a year ago after a successful race in f1…a reporter asked the winner what car he drove…
    he answered something like ‘i’m driving a smart forfour…it’s a very fun car to drive…feels like a mini sportscar…it’s one of the best car I drove so far’…his name?

    –Halmiton

    try google for that interview…even YouTube it…

    that’s all I wanna say…cheers! :)

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    • bola tan on Oct 09, 2010 at 7:00 am

      no big deal
      Michael Schumacher drives his Fiat 500 Abarth…
      Vitaly drives his Renault Clio RS…
      Heikki drives his Lotus tune Proton Satria Neo CPS…
      etc…marketing ploy…

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