Smart confirms city car return with #2

ForTwo successor coming in '26, 'providing a stylish, efficient and innovative vehicle for the A-segment'

By Matt Bird / Tuesday, 2 September 2025 / Loading comments

Was the Smart ForTwo ahead of its time? There’s today’s question to ponder. Launched almost 30 years ago with its diminutive dimensions, changeable panels and Mercedes influence, maybe it previewed all that was now so important - specifically personalisation and a premium billing. Ideal for cities and super efficient too, the Smart has felt long overdue a comeback.

Maybe that’s just the nostalgia talking, but Smart itself is keen on the ideas as well, and has now confirmed the return of an A-segment city car for next year. It’ll be the Smart #2 (yes, still persisting with the crazy naming strategy), it’ll be built in China, and it’ll be focused on the ‘demands of customers in urban areas, with Europe as main market.’

What we can see so far (it really is just a shadow) suggests that this new #2 really will be as dinky as its predecessors. In a world of two tonne EV hatches, that’s got to be encouraging; previous electric Smarts have used batteries as small as 17.6kWh (or less than a PHEV Panamera these days), so something of a similar capacity would make sense this time around given the advances made in battery tech.

The electric A-segment is a booming one at the moment, too, which must have influenced Smart’s decision to reenter. As well as offerings already on sale like the Hyundai Inster, Renault 5 and Mini, there’s the VW ID.2 coming, plus the Fiat Panda and whatever else will come from the other Chinese makers. Not so long ago small electric cars were as odd as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, so it’s nice to see the city car segment reimagined in some style.

The #2 (nope, still not getting it) will sit alongside the #1, #3 and #5 in the Smart range from next year. And that’s the last hashtag, promise. Dirk Adelmann, CEO Smart Europe, said: “The confirmation of our ‘project: two’ and the upcoming launch of the Smart #2 marks a milestone moment for the smart brand on a global scale. The smart #2 will shape a new era of individual urban automobility, especially in classic smart cities like Rome, London or Paris…The new smart #2 will be a unique, authentic addition to the all-electric product portfolio of smart in Europe.” Certainly it feels like the right place for Smart to be expanding into. The Brabus will be here before we know it…