Rumormill: From fortwo to forfour; now a smart forthree roadster?
smart used to have a model called the Roadster (and the Roadster coupé), which wasn't too much of a commercial success. The model wasn't ugly and had decent enough performance with its small 3-cyl engine thanks to its low weight. Still, smart only sold a little more than 43,000 units in the two years (2003-2005) that it was available. What does this have to do with today's green car news? Well, according to British car magazine Autocar, smart has filed patents for a new roadster model, which would be called the forthree, fitting nicely between the fortwo and the future forfour. Yes, the name forthree means that this car would seat three people but, unlike the Toyota IQ, this new model would seat the driver at the middle front position and two passengers behind and to the sides. This reconfigures the marque's signature structure into something resembling a wishbone. Autocar says the model would hit the showrooms in 2014 together with the next generation of 3-cyl engines, both diesel and gasoline, in the smart cars.
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
XYZ 6:19PM (8/03/2009)
I'd buy it straight away but only with an electric drive. The old one looked great and the new one as an EV would be a ripper, especially with 3 seats (enough room for the mother-in-law). Give it to me, Smart!
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tarmacblog 7:53PM (8/03/2009)
Yes! Now we're talking. I lamented the loss of the old Roadster, which has to be one of my favourite cars. Very glad to hear, if these rumours are true, that Smart is thinking of bringing it back. Hell, by 2014 I might even be able to afford one brand new...
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Chris M 11:30PM (8/03/2009)
That configuration has been tried before, without much success.
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Scatter 3:22AM (8/04/2009)
McLaren F1? :)
I like that arrangement. I reckon you have potential to squeeze 3 into a width not that much greater than a two seater.
Lorena Palin 11:33PM (8/03/2009)
They going to fix the god awful transmission?
And how much is this going to cost?
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Misc 8:43AM (8/04/2009)
I designed something very similar to this for my Product Design degree project back in 2000...
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Ghen 12:39PM (8/04/2009)
What will be most interesting to me is the front wheels. Will it be sorta like the Prowler and stick out?
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tarmacblog 7:22PM (8/06/2009)
I expect they'll be enclosed as in the old Roadster. The images above are essentially the new concepts put forward for patent crammed into the chassis of the old Roadster. There's no telling exactly what the new Roadie will look like though I'd presume it'd at least share characteristics with the ForTwo. If it didn't, it wouldn't really be a proper Smart.
Lorena - bit too soon to guess the price I'd think, given that the car is at least five years away and we know how much the market is changing at the moment...
mikexilva 1:15PM (8/04/2009)
My dream car would be a Smart Roadster Electric, sadly the normal Roadster got end of line befone I could buy one.
Now if there will be a Roadster EV with similar look and 3 seats with the driver in the midle, that's gaoing to the top of my list.
Anyway next I'll be buying will be an EV.
And finally we are going to start producing bateries for EV's here in Portugal ;)
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bubuxxl 10:36AM (8/21/2009)
smart has learned the lesson!It was way too expensive next to mx-5 and stuff like that,so they won´t sell it for that much...I hope!
It would be really cool if it had the tipology of the roadster,I mean I have one and love it to bits and i´m never gonna get rid of it (future classic),but forthree means more functional and I collect smarts so...also made the mistake of buying the new fortwo... :(
I red on wikipedia that smart was selling the roadster pretty well and they even doubled sales expectance just on the first 6 months after going on sale, the problem was that smart was having too many warranty problems with the fabric hood and water leaks from rubber seals and they stopped having a profit because each car with a water leak problem was costing them too much,ruining profitability...on a rainy day it gets uncomfortable inside a roady but...I don´t care! :)
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