Smart 4-seater for U.S. likely to come from alliance

A four-seat Smart car developed jointly by the Daimler-Renault-Nissan alliance is likely to be sold in the United States, said Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche.



Zetsche said having a partner for developing a four-seat Smart “was a prerequisite” for expanding the microcar range. “We could not have found a feasible basis alone for the next-generation Smart family,” he said in a call with reporters today.



The next-generation SmartForTwo two-seater, a four-seat Smart and the next-generation Renault Twingo will be jointly developed by the partners. The agreement calls for electric versions of both the Smart and Twingo families as well as sharing and co-development of diesel and gasoline engines.



“Of course, we could do a next-generation Smart alone, but we would lose a lot of money,” said Zetsche, who noted that a final decision on a four-seater for the United States hasn't been made.



Daimler AG would also have had a hard time recouping the required 10 percent return-on-sales it requires for new vehicles by developing a second Smart on its own, he said.



Zetsche said Daimler has no intention of using Nissan dealers in the United States to sell Smart cars. The partnership announced today with Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. will not affect the Smart distributorship agreement Daimler has with Penske Automotive Group, the sole distributor of Smart cars in the United States.



The SmartForTwo went on sale in the United States in 2008. A total of 24,622 were sold that year, exceeding Daimler's and Penske's expectations.



As gasoline prices fell from record highs and the economy collapsed, Smart sales plunged 41 percent in 2009. This year's demand is down 72 percent from year-earlier levels.

Smart fortwo by Carlsson

Brabus was the first major Mercedes-Benz tuner to embrace the smart brand from the start with the first generation fortwo. However, it hasn't been until now, that other Mercedes specialty tuners were doing the same. Last year we saw Lorinser release a tuning program for the second generation fortwo, and more recently Konigseder has also followed suit. Now the latest Mercedes tuner is Carlsson also for the second generation fortwo model series since 2007.

The Carlsson aerodynamics kit consists of a front spoiler fitted to the stock bumper, electro polished stainless steel grill insert, Carlsson fog lights with a chrome case, rear skirt with diffuser and rear muffler (only for gasoline driven cars with 84 hp / 61 hp and 71 hp: four stainless steel end pipes). Rounding out the package are lowering springs, specially made Carlsson 1/11 Evo BE in 16- and 17-inch wheels, pedal overlays and an aluminum handbrake handle.

Smart forTwo Cabrio Widebody by Konigseder

If you are told about a widebody kit for the Smart forTwo Cabrio, you could be forgiven for having that quick glance over to the calendar checking if it is April 1^st, but we have to say the experts over at Austrian tuner Konigseder have pulled it off with a great deal of success.

The kit widens the model by an additional 30mm in each direction and consists of wheel arches housing new 17 inch wheels, side skirts and a restyled front bumper with larger air intakes and an additional lower spoiler.

The rear stays largely unchanged but the rear wheel arches get extra air intakes for additional cooling for the brakes, the look is completed with a flowery (yes, that's flowery) exterior body artwork on its white livery. Beneath the bodywork, the forTwo has been left alone apart from a set Eibach sport springs which lower the overall ride height of the vehicle thus improving the driving dynamics.