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New Twingo hood release video looks very familiar

13K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  Pee-wee Germa 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Good find! Just guessing but I doubt the battery will be up front in the fortwo as Renault has no input on that car and Mercedes likes the battery inside the car (for some reason.) Also, it sounded like at least the "hood" is a plastic piece. :)
 
#3 ·
I betcha the smart fortwo (453) will have the battery in exactly the same place and with the same "hood" arrangement! Such are the ways of platform-sharing. We already know the 453 has more of a "hood" than the 451 has, and that facilitates putting the battery there instead of under the floorboards.

Firewall, battery, coolant bottle, brake master cylinder, washer bottle, pedal cluster, etc are likely to be common parts across all models on this vehicle platform, doesn't matter two-seat or four-seat.
 
#10 ·
I betcha the smart fortwo (453) will have the battery in exactly the same place and with the same "hood" arrangement!
This.

These pics of the pre-production models with body wrap spell it out very clearly. If the car is divided in three sections -- the Fortwo commonality with the Twingo would be confined to the fore and aft sections. The Forfour will largely mirror the Twingo configuration. The entire purpose of sharing the development with Renault is to SHARE, so the Fortwo battery will definitely be up front. I'm curious as to how much of the interior bits will cross over.

This other set of winter test shots with the Twingo makes me wonder if Smart will de-emphasize the Tridion. The 2014's have more possibilities for matching the plastic panels to the Tridion... and these last pics highlight a monochromatic 2014 model.
 
#7 ·
You're on :)

More speculative vehicle-platform meanderings follow. Keep in mind that I do work for a large company that builds automation equipment for welding together automotive body shells ... the same company that builds that Tridion shell (but the engineering for the 453 was done across the pond, not at the division that I deal with).

There is another rationale for getting the battery out of the passenger footwell: Right hand drive. The original smart (450) was not designed with right hand drive in mind. They ended up having to build an entire mirror-image front section of the floor pan in order to do it because the battery had to be on the other side. $$$. The 451 has the same issue.

Obviously there are some differences because of the pedal cluster. But the smart (LOL) engineering companies use the same floor pan with a pedal module that bolts in, and the other side gets a blanking plate. Or the firewall where the pedal cluster attaches is a separate part from the floor pan and only that part has to be different left to right (prior to being welded into the structure), not the main floor pan itself. But the bottom line is that they want to make as many different models as much the same underneath as they can. RHD, LHD, Twingo, forfour, fortwo, doesn't matter ... Make 'em all the same (except for the length)!

Jack up a plain jane Mk6 VW Golf on a hoist, and jack up a same-generation fancy Audi TT on the adjacent hoist. If the TT is a base model (front drive), you will not be able to tell the difference between them looking from underneath. If the TT is the normal all-wheel-drive version, you'll be able to tell because of the propeller shaft and the rear diff. BUT ... you can unbolt the fuel tank and rear suspension module and transmission and related bits and pieces from both cars, and swap them! It all bolts in, the floor pan is the same!
 
#6 ·
Tridion Cell is another story...

I still firmly believe a Tridion Cell is there...but it will definitely look thin on the forfour!

Check out the bulge under the door sills; now imagine that with a Tridion Cell and no camo. It's definitely different from the fourjoy Concept (which has a Tridion Cell thicker than the current fortwo's). Interesting.


 
#8 ·
Very true, but I think when Renault dropped out of the two seater version of this car it became a Daimler design pretty much all the way. When we look at the spy shots of the 453 fortwo, even with the (somewhat) flatter nose there's not much more distance from the leading edge of the front wheel arch to the front edge of the car than with the 451 fortwo. This is all speculation and sharing a lot of the design under the skin would certainly help keep costs down, but the new fortwo appears to have kept a lot of its smart DNA. :)

PS - I prefer the dark roast coffee and the chocolate dipped donuts...
 
#9 ·
Good point Jwight! Renault dropped out of two seater development for the project...as far as I'm concerned, the fortwo will only be mechanically similar to the Twingo.

Again though, the forfour might be a different story entirely. :eek:
 
#22 ·


Looks like what may be a key slot to the right of the driver side latch. :)
Yeah! That's it. Good zoom. It looks like there is no turning cylinder, just a slot (that should have a little plastic cover to prevent bug intrusion). Maybe it's a simple key-must-be-in-to-pull solution?
They added a key lock so you wouldn't be able to steal the battery.
Could be, or maybe to prevent wheel theft :D
 
#19 ·
They did offer wheel locks for the 451 on the European market.

Though, standard wheel locks are really only going to stop/slow bad car thieves...If someone is good enough and they have the tools, standard wheel locks can be defeated...
 
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