Another Rumour About a Potential New Forfour

[Carl242]

REPORT: smart partnering with Renault on next-gen forfour — Autoblog Green

[jwight]

...the rumor is that smart would work on a four-seat car with Renault. This would be smart's second attempt to develop such a model, after the huge fiasco now-dead forfour...

Never good to see the words "fiasco" and "rumor" in the same article. A re-badged A class would make more sense IMHO.

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by jwight

Never good to see the words "fiasco" and "rumor" in the same article. A re-badged A class would make more sense IMHO.

The new 5-door A-Class is sweet looking and just a bit longer than a 5-door Yaris. A partnership with Fiat would likely result in a rebadged/tweaked 500/Ka. I'd stick with the in-house designed A-class and milk that platform for as much as they can.

Regardless, I'm glad to see that smart is looking to widen its appeal and market share beyond the fortwo. BUT, if they don't do it right, it will be another 'fiasco'.



http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/cont...9/gallery.html

[forestacademy]

Developing the new A and B Class models can be pursued in-house, but smart apparently needs a partner

See now, this just doesn't make sense.

[Old smart]

And what of the Penske/Renault rumors swirling in the bottom of the Saturn stew a few months ago? If there is such a thing as a smart/Renault forfour-type vehicle, who will sell them? PAG/Saturn?, PAG/smartUSA?

[forestacademy]

Bigger Market share with Saturn in the US and it would be a Penske Renault deal. If it was a smart deal it would be a Renault/Smart deal

[fortwolover]

re: mercedes a class

wow, that a-class looks great. and u say it is smaller than a yaris - it looks much more substantial from where i sit - i dont see any issue with partnering with the french on this one - they have access to the versa and sentra small car platforms and are experts in compact offerings. makes sense

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by fortwolover

re: mercedes a class

wow, that a-class looks great. and u say it is smaller than a yaris - it looks much more substantial from where i sit - i dont see any issue with partnering with the french on this one - they have access to the versa and sentra small car platforms and are experts in compact offerings. makes sense

Oops! Correction: The new A-class is just a shade longer at 152.8 inches versus 150.6 for the Yaris. The previous generation model was a bit closer at 151.1 inches.

So, 2.2 inches longer when comparing new 5-door to 5-door, but it does look more substantial than a couple inches would seem to indicate!