The Smart family of premium-priced urban compacts will soon disappear from the European market due to its low economic viability, Daimler AG says. The Daimler-Geely joint enterprise in China will continue releasing Smarts, but the next generation isn’t expected until 2022.
Dealerships in Europe are arranging cleanup sales to get rid of the remaining Smart stock.
In contrast, the Renault Twingo – which is essentially the French clone of the Smart Forfour – will not be going anywhere soon. The model received a mid-generational refresh this spring, and Renault says its engineering and marketing departments are busy conceptualizing the next generation. Should the Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles merge with Renault, the next-gen Twingo will most likely be based on the same principal architecture and tech as the new Fiat 500.
The Smart is not the only A-Class vehicle scheduled to abandon Europe soon. It is official that both the Citroen C1 and the Peugeot 108 will be discontinued in 2021.