smart Mulling New Forfour Successor as a New Four-Seater EV Hatch

Besides the #2, smart is also mulling a successor to the Forfour, which could arrive as a four-seater EV hatch known as the #4.

With only three models on its current product roster, smart Automobiles is looking to further expand its lineup, with the next upcoming model being a two-seater supermini EV known as the smart #2. Now, it seems the Sino-German marque is also looking to make a more practical four-seater version of the upcoming #2, which is dubbed as the successor to the smart Forfour compact hatch.

Speaking to Autocar UK, smart's European CEO Dirk Adelmann said that while there are no concrete launch plans "yet" for a new Forfour, he hinted it is something the brand is looking at, with the four-seat hatch going out of production for several years now.

The CEO further added that the Forfour successor would underpin the same bespoke platform as the #2, and he further elaborated that such a car is needed in order to justify the huge cost of creating this new architecture.

Besides the same platform, the supposed #4 will also feature similar design cues as the upcoming #2, with Adelmann saying the model “needed to look like a successor," so it might not look like the Forfour that we remembered.

On the topic of the bespoke architecture, Adelmann confirmed that it will likely feature a dual-motor setup, although no further details were given for now. That said, the CEO did confirm that it is being developed jointly by Geely in China and Mercedes-Benz in Europe, as it is being developed with a focus on the European market.

“The wishlist features we gave to engineering was a very small turning cycle—the same as the last Fortwo—to make [the #2] really practical in city centres.

“That’s very important, because this team makes sure that we have a European product that is ready for European customers,” Adelmann continued.

Commenting on smart’s naming strategy that seems quite confusing now, given that the smallest car in the range, the #2, was numbered higher than the larger #1 crossover, Adelmann said, “Our nomenclature is a bit odd. The even numbers were reserved for non-SUVs. So the smallest non-SUV body type number is a #2. Yes, it’s higher than #1, but so be it.”

The upcoming smart #2 is slated to make its global debut sometime later next year, so we can expect the #4 to follow afterwards. Besides the two new EV hatches, Adelmann also confirmed that the automaker will begin rolling out major updates focusing on “some” hardware changes for both the #1 and #3. These updates will be followed by “an even bigger facelift” in 2027.