Report: Smart Forfour, when it comes, will probably come to U.S.

Daimler chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche admitted yesterday that his company's Smart brand was in trouble without a small car partner. Luckily, that's just what he got in the Nissan-Renault announcement. Now that Smart's future is protected, speculation is turning to the revived Smart Forfour (previous generation pictured), which we've heard about for years. Zetsche has told Automotive News that a four-seat Smart will likely be sold in the U.S. once the new triangular partnership develops it. Zetsche said a final decision has not yet been made on where the new car will be sold, but did say that there is no talk of using Nissan dealers in the U.S. to sell Smarts. Penske will remain the sole distributor of Smart vehicles here.

The Forfour (or whatever it's called) will be developed alongside the next-gen Fortwo and the next Renault Twingo. As we wrote yesterday, all of these models will be developed with gas, diesel and electric drive variants in mind.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]