The Smart Forfour (stylized as "smart forfour") is a

city car The A-segment is the 1st category in the passenger car classification system defined by the European Commission. It is used for city cars, the smallest category of passenger cars defined. A-segment sales represent approx. 7-8% of the market in ...

( A-segment) marketed by Smart over two generations. The first generation was marketed in Europe from 2004 to 2006 with a front-engine configuration, sharing its platform with the Mitsubishi Colt. The second generation was marketed in Europe from 2014 after an eight-year hiatus, using rear-engine or rear electric motor configurations. It is based on the third-generation

Renault Twingo The Renault Twingo is a four-seater passenger city car manufactured and marketed by the French auto-maker Renault, introduced in 1992 and currently in its third generation. The first generation Twingo (two door, front engine) debuted at the ...

, which also forms a basis for the third-generation Smart Fortwo. A battery electric version was marketed as the EQ Forfour beginning in 2018. Petrol-powered Forfour was discontinued in 2019 as production of all Smart internal combustion models ended at that time. Production of the EQ Forfour ended in 2021. It was indirectly replaced by the larger Smart #1 crossover.

First generation (W454; 2004)

Production

The car was produced at the NedCar factory in the Netherlands in conjunction with

Mitsubishi Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.Volvo 300 in the 1970s and 1980s and the Volvo S40 in the 1990s. To save production costs, the Smart Forfour shared almost all of its components with the 2003 Mitsubishi Colt. This includes the chassis, suspension and a new generation of MIVEC

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as '' ...

s, ranging from the three-cylinder to the four-cylinder with power up to . The Smart Forfour was phased out from production in 2006 due to slow sales.

Equipment

Depending on the version, it came equipped with ESP, ABS (standard on all models), 14-inch or 15-inch alloy wheels or, optional, 16-inch ones (17-inch on the Brabus model), safety cell, a panoramic sunroof (or, optional, electric sunroof), height-adjustable driver seat, illuminated glove box, radio/CD-player, fog lights, front and side airbags (standard on all models), alarm, automatic air conditioning, electric front windows, and as options - multifunctional steering wheel, shift paddles, heated front seats, lounge seats, navigation and color display with telephone keypad or DVD navigation with a larger display, CD changer, window bags, rain sensor, automatic lights on the system (in poor visibility), leather package.

Marketing

The sales brochures state that the interior "is designed around the concept of a lounge"; to test this, '' Top Gear'' presenters spent 24 hours inside the Forfour. They said they would not buy the car due to its high price and poor driving dynamics compared to its rivals. Following Smart's initial success for the fortwo in the U.S., and due to surprisingly high popularity in the Forfour, former Mercedes-Benz exec Rainer Schmückle revealed that officials were considering relaunching the car.

Forfour Brabus (2005)

Forfour Brabus is a version of Smart Forfour tuned by Brabus with a turbocharged Mitsubishi 4G15 engine rated , more than the Mitsubishi Colt CZT. It can reach a maximum speed of and accelerate from zero to in 6.9 seconds.

Engines

The common direct injection (cdi)

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

, is a three-cylinder

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarter ...

engine derived from the four-cylinder used in the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, and is available with either or .

Transmissions

All models could be equipped with either a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic (Softouch) transmission, except the 1.0-liter version and the Brabus version, which could only use 5-speed manual transmissions.

Second generation (W453; 2014)

The second-generation Forfour was jointly developed with

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

, reportedly sharing approximately 70% of its parts with the third-generation

, while retaining the trademark hemispherical steel safety cell, marketed as the ''Tridion'' cell. The Fortwo is assembled at Smartville, and the Forfour is manufactured alongside the Renault Twingo 3 in Novo Mesto,

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. Smartville, where the W450 and W451 build series have been manufactured, underwent a 200 million euro upgrade beginning in mid-2013, in preparation for the C453 Fortwo. The second generation Forfour, along with the new Fortwo went on sale in October, shortly after their debuting at the

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

The Smart Fortwo and Forfour is offered with a choice of manual transmission or double-clutch automatic — and no longer with the Getrag automated manual. Both models feature a wider track, overall width increased by 10 cm (over the second generation Fortwo), improved ride and improved noise isolation. For the third generation, ''

Autoweek ''Autoweek'' is a car culture publication based in Detroit, Michigan. It was first published in 1958 and in 1977 the publication was purchased by Crain Communications Inc, its current parent company. The magazine was published weekly and focused ...

'' projected that Daimler consulted with Ford to learn about Ford's 1.0-litre turbocharged inline 3-cylinder engine, in turn sharing information about its own Euro 6 stratified lean-burn gasoline engines. The launch model "edition #1" was a limited period version, presented in Tempodrom, Berlin. Delivery is scheduled to commence in November 2014 with the Forfour 52 kW and 66 kW models to follow in December 2014, and twinamic dual-clutch transmission models in the spring of 2015.

Smart Fourjoy concept (2013)

Smart Fourjoy concept includes Smart's signature Tridion cell in polished full-aluminium, tail lights integrated in the Tridion cell, spherical instrument cluster, raised smart lettering milled from aluminium on the side skirts, pearlescent white on the bumpers, front bonnet and tailgate; headlamps without a glass cover, U-shaped daytime running lights, LED front and tail lights, transparent petroleum-coloured moulded wind deflector at the top of the front windscreen, on the A-pillars on the sides and on the rear roof spoiler; rear dark chrome seats, a piping-like line with the same petroleum colour as the plexiglass accents on the exterior, instrument panel with convex surface and touch-sensitive operating functions, spherical instrument cluster, single-spoke steering wheel, two smartphones mounted on the dashboard and on the centre tunnel, 55 kW magneto-electric motor, 17.6kWh lithium-ion battery, 22 kW onboard charger, two electrically driven skateboards on the roof, helmets under the rear seats, a high-definition camera. The vehicle was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show (without doors and roof).

Concept plug-in hybrid conversion

A concept version, never manufactured, of the Smart Forfour was converted as a

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...

by third-party vendors. The

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also s ...

can propel the vehicle up to and last on its own for up to with an engine that combined a , , three-cylinder

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

diesel engine and two high-efficiency permanent-magnet electric motors. It received an award from the Energy Saving Trust for the "Ultra Low Carbon Car Challenge" project.

Electric version

In 2013, Daimler projected it would produce an electric version of the Smart Forfour during the second generation of production, for launch in 2015. The

battery-electric A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, wi ...

smart forfour electric drive entered mass-production in 2017 at Renault's Novo Mesto plant in Slovenia and was marketed in Europe, competing with other electric city cars such as the

MG ZS EV MG, Mg, or mg and variants may refer to: Organizations * MG Cars, an automotive marque of the now defunct MG Car Company * MG Motor, a present-day car manufacturing company *MG JW Automobile, a Pakistani automobile manufacturer * Champion Air (IA ...

, Renault Twingo Z.E (with which it shares many components), and Volkswagen E-up!, including the SEAT Mii electric and Škoda Citigo-e iV, rebadged versions of the E-up!. In 2019, it was restyled and rebranded to Smart EQ ForFour, after Chinese automobile manufacturer

Geely Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (ZGH), commonly known as Geely (吉利 "auspicious"), is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company is privately held by Chinese billionaire entreprene ...

took a stake in Daimler, becoming a 50–50 partner in Smart, and Smart pivoted to market electric cars only. The EQ ForFour was discontinued in early 2022. It used a rear-mounted electric motor with a peak torque of and is fitted with a 17.6 kW-hr battery. The EQ Forfour has a rated consumption of 13.1 kWh/100 km (combined) and achieves range using the NEDC test cycle, dropping to on the WLTP cycle. As tested, '' Autocar'' had a range of , using "a gentle touring driving style", dropping to when not driving as carefully. The kerb weight of the electric forfour is , approximately heavier than an equivalent petrol-powered forfour.

Powertrain

All petrol models are available with a 5-speed manual or 6-speed twinamic dual-clutch transmission.

Sales

248,856 second-generation Forfour have been produced, 14,9% of them (32,326 units) being electric models.

References

External links

*
Smart USA (official USA site)
Press kit:

{{Smart Cars 2010s cars Cars introduced in 2004 Cars of the Netherlands City cars Euro NCAP superminis Front-wheel-drive vehicles Hatchbacks Rear-engined vehicles Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Forfour VDL Nedcar vehicles