Smart looks set to scale down again with its forthcoming ultra-compact electric city car

Smart is the OG modern city car maker. The origins of the company are closely tied to the dream of a compact urban machine, first at the behest of the late Swatch watch supremo Nicholas Hayek, who harboured a long-running dream of creating a super-compact ‘Swatchmobile’ for Europe’s congested urban centres. That evolved into a partnership with Mercedes-Benz in 1994, and culminated in the launch of the original Smart City-Coupé in 1998.

We’ve had a lot of fun in the diminutive Smart car over the years. A tiny two-seater powered by a regular combustion engine, it was never quite a runaway commercial success, but it garnered enough sales and popularity to be more than a mere cult – we at Wallpaper* even had a shot at customising our own Cabrio model. The ForTwo (as it eventually became known) had few rivals, with perhaps the Toyota iQ at the top of the tree.

A second-generation model arrived in 2007, when Smart finally got around to putting an electric drivetrain into the car. A third-generation car, co-developed with Renault, saw major stylistic changes in 2014, and in 2018, the EV version was officially designated as the Smart EQ Fortwo. With total sales of around 1.7 million, the two-seater retained its playful, toy-like character throughout, with chunky, colourful design inside and out (Hayek’s original vision of clip-on body panels never materialised).

Then the trail went cold. In 2020, Mercedes hived Smart off into a joint venture with China’s Geely Group, and the latter has overseen its transformation into a relatively conventional EV brand, albeit one that is laser-targeted at a youthful audience, both in China and beyond. Thus far, Europe has the compact Smart #1 SUV, the excellent Smart #3, and the forthcoming Smart #5 SUV.

What form will the Smart #2 take?

So what will the Smart #2 look like? We can probably rule out any influence from 2017’s Smart Vision EQ Fortwo, which predates the Geely era. Mercedes-Benz is still involved in the design, however. With the #1, #3 and #5, Smart has established a consistent design language that’s curvy and futuristic, although much of the cars’ character is left to the onboard digital assistants. That’ll probably be the case with the new #2, which is expected to go on sale late in 2026.

Pure electric from the outset – like all other contemporary Smarts – the #2 will also be built in China and promises a tech-driven approach. As Smart’s European CEO Dirk Adelmann noted, ‘the Smart #2 will shape a new era of individual urban automobility, especially in classic smart cities like Rome, London or Paris… [it will] be a unique, authentic addition to the all-electric product portfolio of Smart in Europe’.

Right now, it’s not even clear if the #2 will have two seats or more. It’ll also go up against increasingly stiff competition in the sector, including the cultish Fiat Topolino and related Citroën Ami, and microcars like the Microlino and Nissan Silence S04. Even Toyota is musing about a return to the sector, as the recent FT-Me Concept demonstrated.

These days, small has become premium, with bespoke offerings from the likes of David Brown and its remastered classic Mini providing pocket-sized luxury to well-heeled urban drivers.

Whatever shape the new Smart #2 takes when it finally breaks cover, it’ll be a compact one. As more and more people realise the folly of using full-scale SUVs in a European city, regardless of whether they're electric or not, the #2 has a strong chance of being a hit.

UK.Smart.com, @Smart_Worldwide