2013 Smart Fortwo Passion on 2040-cars

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Smart highlights safety of new Fortwo by crashing into much bigger brother

Smart is just getting ready to launch its new Fortwo and Forfour minicars, riding on a completely different platform, and the diminutive brand wants to show that its latest creations can stand up to some serious abuse. For such a tiny car, the crashworthiness of the Smarts is a legitimate concern when taking on larger, heavier vehicles. To prove their survivability, the company filmed a head-on collision pitting the latest Fortwo against a Mercedes-Benz S-Class weighing more than twice as much.
When it unveiled the latest cars, Smart touted that it crash-tested them against the larger Mercedes-Benz C-Class and S-Class. Among their updates, the Fortwo and Forfour use a substructure containing ultra-high strength, hot-formed steel and maximum-strength, multiphase steel. They also have larger crumple zones.
Of course, Smart can make all the claims that it wants about the cars' safety, but actually showing it to people is much more convincing. At 5,088 pounds, the S-Class dominates the 2,478-pound Fortwo in terms of weight. Scroll down to see how the little hatchback fares against the more expensive, luxury sedan in a 31-mile-per-hour frontal crash.

2015 Smart ForFour caught in early testing

In the U.S., we've come to know the Smart brand just for its ForTwo, but other markets have seen a wider variety of models from the Daimler brand including the Smart ForFour that was produced from 2004 through 2006. This bigger vehicle from Smart added two extra doors and a rear seat for some passenger space. While we've already seen spy photos for the next ForTwo, judging by these spy shots of a stretched-wheelbase test mule, Smart is hard at work developing a next-generation ForFour as well.
Although the previous ForFour was a result of a collaboration between Daimler and Mitsubishi, the new model is going to be a venture between Daimler and Nissan/Renault. Under the Penske ownership, it was announced that the new Smart B-segment car would be based on the Nissan Micra (which was later scrapped), but we hear that this car will actually ride on a new platform that will eventually be the basis for the next Renault Twingo. Like the current and upcoming ForTwo, the 2015 ForFour will be a rear-engine/rear-wheel-drive car.
While we don't have any information as to what will power the new Smart ForFour, we can almost guarantee that it (along with the new ForTwo) will have a styling that will be very similar to recent Smart concept cars like the ForStars, For-Us and ForVision. The new ForTwo is expected to go on sale in 2014 with the bigger ForFour hitting dealers a year later.

2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive

Little Daimler Child Finally Nails It With Electrons
Since the official launch of the Smart Fortwo in October 1998, the little company within Daimler has never made a profit. Far from it. Not for lack of trying, certainly. Many of us know well the story of myriad attempts to force the world to adopt the Smart way of living in the automotive sense, only to have the various chapters conclude in a disillusioning crash and financial burn.
Smart is still trying desperately to find its proper path as a global player that sells rather well - and not just in London and a few Italian and German cities. They insist that China is the great frontier nowadays for the Fortwo in all of its trims, and they still want to figure out North America.