Despite being synonymous for parking-friendly city cars with just two seats and a one-box shape, the current Smart lineup looks a lot less distinctive these days – a sea of compact crossovers with rounded styling and Mercedes-esque headlights. That may change in late 2026 when the company introduces the #2, which, as its name suggests, is a modern remake of the original CityCoupe (later remaned fortwo). The pocket-sized #2 will also be an EV, taking advantage of a new Smart platform designed for “ultra-compact vehicles.”
Smart announced that the #2 (pronounced hashtag-two) would enter its final development phase following the successful completion of “project:two,” a feasibility study on whether a city vehicle would make sense for the brand. Slated to enter production in late 2026, the #2 will be a strict two-seater, like its fortwo predecessor and unlike the 2+2 Scion iQ. It’ll also follow in the footsteps of the final 2019 EQ fortwo model by being electric-only – unlike some of its siblings, Smart will not offer the #2 with a hybrid powertrain.
The new city car is clearly inspired by its ancestors, but it won’t be a simple copy-paste job. While the first- and second-generation Smart cars had a distinctive one-box design where the front bumper, hood, and roofline all resided on the same arc, the #2 will have a distinct nose and flat hood, as well as a more upright windscreen. It takes after the third-gen fortwo most of all, but even that model’s rounded front end still gave it the same Smart-signature awkward-cute proportions.
The #2 will ride on a new, developed-in-house platform for ultra-compact cars, with styling done by Mercedes-Benz Design. Whether the #2 will share its architecture with other cars in its automakers’ respective portfolios remains to be seen, but considering the original Smart car was such a legend, we could foresee Geely and Mercedes leaving the entire city car market to the redux model.
The first Smarts were built by Micro Compact Car AG, formed in 1994 as a joint venture between Daimler-Benz AG and SMH – yes, company behind the Swatch watch. However, within a few years, MCC became a wholly owned Benz subsidiary, renamed Smart GmbH, which went on to build both the city car, a sporty coupe and roadster sharing its platform, and a larger four-seater. Its biggest metamorphosis happened in 2019, when Mercedes-Benz AG and Geely Group announced a joint venture and relocated Smart’s headquarters from Germany to China, where the new generation of cars would be built for a global market.
That will be the case for the #2, which may join the #1 and #3 at the company’s manufacturing facility in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. The #2 will be available in China and Europe, as well as a few unconfirmed global markets that probably include southern Asia, Oceania, and South Africa. Notably, Smart teased the #2’s silhouette alongside one of London’s legendary red phone boxes, suggesting it’ll be available in Old Blighty as well. American sales are extremely unlikely, although if the U.S./EU trade agreement announced last week means anything, interested consumers might somehow be able to import one.
Source: Smart
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