2016 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe on 2040-cars

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Daimler to sell half its stake in Smart to Geely, Reuters reports [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Reuters on Tuesday reported that Daimler AG is nearing the sale of a 50 percent stake in its small-car brand Smart to China's Geely Automobile Holdings, the Financial Times said on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the matter. The sale will be confirmed before the Shanghai Auto Show in April, FT said. Both Daimler and Geely declined a Reuters request for comment. Last year, Geely built up an almost 10 percent stake in Daimler in a $9 billion bet by its chairman and became the biggest shareholder in Daimler. Previous story appears below: A new report from Germany's Handelsblatt says Daimler will decide the fate of its money-losing Smart microcar brand by year's end. Dieter Zetsche and his signature white mustache will retire in May, taking his support for the brand with him, and designated successor Ola Kallenius was steeped in Mercedes-Benz's AMG world of performance cars. Meanwhile, Kartrin Adt, a former Daimler Human Resources VP who took over as head of Smart last September, has yet to formulate a strategy to steer the brand to profitability and has reportedly focused on energizing the brand and looking for a partner in China, including with Volvo owner Geely. "Ola has no history with the Smart," Handelsblatt quotes an unnamed insider as saying, and no scruples about burying the brand. It's not the first time the brand's future has been cast into doubt. Last fall, rumors circulated that Renault was likely to pull the plug on its partnership that created the Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo, which share a platform. The publication said the brand hit an all-time global sales high of more than 150,000 in 2004, and it's been mostly downhill since then, having never turned a profit since its introduction two decades ago. According to CarSalesBase.com, sales of the ForTwo have dropped from a high of 24,622 in its first year in the U.S. in 2008 to just 1,276 last year. In Europe, Smart sold 62,361 FourTwo models last year, and 97,346 vehicles in total. Smart's latest plan is to convert to an all-electric urban mobility brand, though that might be too costly, and hence the shopping for a partner in China. At the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, Smart showed what it called the Forease+, a curious two-seater concept and update on the Forease shown last year in Paris. It features a hard fabric shell roof with a soft fabric cover with no side or rear windows and no climate control.

Fashion designer Jeremy Scott gives Smart Fortwo Electric some wing bling [w/video]

If you were to gaze upon the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive and ponder what you might add to sort of, you know, set it off a bit, you probably wouldn't consider adding a pair of wings. That's because you are not Jeremy Scott. He, on the other hand, would do exactly that. And has.
That's right, that winged wonder you see pictured above is not some sort of Redbull-induced hallucination. Rather, it is the result of a creative collaboration between Mercedes-Benz Cars Advanced Design Studios and the aforementioned famed fashion designer called, appropriately enough, the Smart ForJeremy. And, it has just made its debut at the LA Auto Show.
Besides the faux-feather flourishes that light up when the brakes are applied, the outward appearance of this 2013 limited special edition is tarted up with a custom set of propeller-inspired wheels with just enough shiny to balance the chromed finish of its tridion shell, mirrors and, um, "eyebrows."

Smart ForTwo Brabus Electric Drive is a black and green upgrade

If given the choice, we'd grab the keys to an all-electric Smart ForTwo way before its gasoline-powered sibling, if for no other reason than it would mean we wouldn't have to put up with that horrid automated manual transmission. But such faint praise isn't really fair to the Brabus Electric Drive. After all, it's got 80 horsepower on tap, which is plenty for the little urban runabout, and its 100 pound-feet of torque ought to be available from zero rpm.
Brabus has also seen fit to lower the Smart ED 10 millimeters closer to the pavement, which, along with the 16-inch front and 17-inch rear monoblock wheels, should improve the way it handles. Less convincing an upgrade is the onboard sound generator... though perhaps one strategically pulled fuse might make short work of that oversight.
Feel free to peruse the press release below, but not before checking out our high-res image gallery of live photos from the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.