2006 Smart ForFour
Smart may revive its ForFour model and bring it to the U.S. for the 2013 or 2014 model year. The 2006 ForFour is shown here.

Consumer Guide’s Impressions of the 2013 Smart ForFour

Rumor has it that Mercedes’ minicar division will add a four-passenger model--again. The new ForFour hatchback seems a smart idea (sorry) and a sure thing for the U.S.

What We Know About the 2013 Smart ForFour

It looks like the minicar subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG is going back to the future. European sources say Smart is planning a 4-door, four-passenger hatchback to supplement its teeny 2-door, two-passenger ForTwo coupe and convertible. Smart once offered such a car, the Dutch-built ForFour, but it was sold only in Europe and didn’t sell well enough to stem persistent financial losses; it was yanked after just two years (2004-06). The new 2013 Smart ForFour, which is also being rumored for the “ForTwo+2” name, is not expected until calendar 2013 at the earliest, which could mean a 2014-model U.S. debut. There’s also talk of a new three-passenger Smart Roadster as a spiritual successor to the two-passenger Euro-market sports car of 2003-05. More on that in the “Notable Feature” section.

Click here to read our review of the 2010 Smart ForTwo.
The Smart brand launched in 1998 with the iconic City Coupe, later named ForTwo. That car was never officially sold in America, but developed a cult following that led to a good many being brought in privately. The ForFour and Roadster were intended to broaden Smart’s Euro-market appeal and turn the company’s ledger from red ink to black. Instead, they only made matters worse. That’s why Daimler decided to reset Smart by focusing solely on a redesigned ForTwo and to sanction official U.S. sales for the first time--albeit through an independent franchise, Smart USA, owned and operated by Penske Automotive Group. (Daimler execs evidently blanched at the idea of American Benz dealers selling teensy two-passenger minicars alongside grand S-Class sedans.) Helped by initially solid U.S. ForTwo sales (starting with model-year ‘08), Smart finally made a small profit, prompting new ideas for additional models to extend the brand’s market reach.

British sources and their continental compatriots are floating two scenarios for the 2013 Smart ForFour. Auto Express and other journals expect it to be essentially a stretched ForTwo. Styling and maybe powertrains would stay the same, but a longer wheelbase makes room for a rear seat accessed by neatly integrated rear-hinged back doors. By contrast, rival Autocar and its sources say the new four-passenger Smart will use a modified version of the Renault Twingo minicar platform. The deal with Nissan-Renault could also include a pure-electric model with the same driveline as the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. We think the joint-venture idea more plausible, given what we know of these companies and auto-industry production economics--but Daimler could prove us wrong.

Assuming Autocar is right, however, the 2013 Smart ForFour would be a front-wheel-drive subcompact of more-conventional design than the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive ForTwo. The dimensions shown in our specifications chart are estimates from Autocar except for wheelbase, which the magazine says will be unchanged from the Twingo’s. The British weekly also cites German media reports of cooperation beyond mere platform-sharing. “This would suggest,” says Autocar, joint work on new “small-capacity petrol and diesel engines, possibly including the new 3-cylinder motors under development at Mercedes,” plus the Leaf-based electric mentioned above.

Though it’s still too early to predict powertrains for the 2013 Smart ForFour--there are many possibilities--we do look for clean-sheet components, not rehashed Nissan-Renault hardware. However, judging by Autocar’s informed-source dimensions and our guesstimated curb weight, we think the U.S. version will get a high-mpg, low-emissions turbocharged 4-cylinder engine--or maybe a 3-cylinder--sized at about 1.3 liters. This should be good for about 100 horsepower and some 110 pound-feet of torque. The most likely transmission is a 6-speed automated-manual. A similar-size turbodiesel engine might also be offered, though we think it's a long shot for North America. But the Nissan Leaf-based EV seems a no-brainer, even if it will be expensive for the subcompact class and probably couldn’t be in showrooms until 2014 at the earliest. Look for fossil-fuel engines to come with a mileage-boosting idle-stop feature, as on many gas/electric hybrids. This would use a small electric motor as a starter and generator, but not to turn the wheels or boost engine power. The engines may also be equipped with a “smart” alternator drive that engages only when coasting or braking to reduce power-sapping engine drag as a means to higher mpg.

It’s also too early to be sure about the rest of the chassis, but we suspect budget constraints will have the 2013 Smart ForFour using mostly Twingo components, though undoubtedly tweaked where deemed necessary to match the Smart’s premium positioning versus the mass-market French minicar. That should mean a 4-wheel independent suspension with front struts and a twist-beam rear axle on trailing arms; electric-motor or electrohydraulic power steering; and standard 4-wheel ABS disc brakes linked to an antiskid system with traction control, as on the ForTwo. Naturally, front side and curtain side airbags will be included.

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