Smart is finally ready to show its hand on the car that matters most to its future. The company has released the first official images of the #2, the long-awaited successor to the Fortwo, and while the photos show little more than camouflaged test mules, the message is clear: Smart hasn’t abandoned its original idea—it’s rebuilding it from the ground up.
Due to arrive late next year, the all-electric #2 will become Smart’s new entry point, slotting beneath the #1 and #3 crossovers, the #5 SUV, and the forthcoming #6 saloon. In a lineup that has drifted steadily upward in size and ambition, the #2 is meant to pull the brand back to its urban roots.
What’s hiding beneath that familiar-looking test body is far more interesting than the camouflage suggests. The #2 rides on Smart’s new Electric Compact Architecture (ECA), a platform developed jointly by parent companies Geely and Mercedes-Benz. That alone makes it a first for the modern Smart era. Until now, Smart’s electric lineup has followed a clear division of labor: Geely handled the engineering, Mercedes handled the styling. The #2 breaks that mold, with the platform co-developed in China and Europe to better suit its primary target market—European cities.
For now, that new architecture is wearing a third-generation Fortwo body, a deliberate choice meant to underline continuity. Smart says this confirms the #2 will maintain proportions similar to the car it replaces, which is reassuring news for anyone worried that the Fortwo’s replacement might grow into yet another small crossover. Short overhangs, a tight footprint, and wheels pushed to the corners remain central to the brief.
Design-wise, Smart is keeping its cards close. There’s no official styling reveal yet, but the company describes the #2 as a “reinvention” with a “fresh identity” penned by Mercedes-Benz designers. Expect something more expressive and modern than the old Fortwo, but not a betrayal of its purpose. This is still meant to be a city tool first, fashion statement second.
Crucially, Smart has confirmed that the fundamentals remain unchanged. The #2 will stick with a two-door, two-seat layout and rear-wheel drive, preserving what it calls the same “core driving dynamics” as the Fortwo. In an era where even city cars are turning into mini SUVs, that commitment feels almost radical.
Behind the scenes, however, the business case is anything but simple. Smart CEO Dirk Adelmann has openly acknowledged that developing a bespoke small-car EV platform is expensive—and difficult to justify without scale. To make the numbers work, he’s hinted that the ECA platform could underpin additional models, potentially even a modern Forfour successor.
“We need the economies of scale,” Adelmann said earlier this year, noting that shrinking an EV platform to Fortwo dimensions is far harder than expanding an existing one. The fact that Smart pulled it off at all suggests just how serious it is about keeping a true city car alive.
Technical details remain scarce, but Adelmann has confirmed that the platform can accommodate a dual-motor setup, opening the door to an all-wheel-drive variant—an intriguing possibility for a car this small. Still, the real engineering priority wasn’t straight-line speed. It was maneuverability.
“The wishlist feature we gave to engineering was a very small turning cycle—the same as the last Fortwo,” Adelmann said. In other words, the #2 isn’t trying to be a miniature hot hatch. It’s trying to be unbeatable where it counts: tight streets, narrow parking spots, and dense city centers.
If Smart gets this right, the #2 won’t just be another EV. It’ll be proof that the original Smart idea still makes sense in an electric world—and that small, purpose-built cars still have a place in an industry obsessed with going big.
Source: Autocar
