Smart will not make another generation of the Roadster, but a Smart SUV might be in the cards. According to Smart's CEO, Annette Winkler, "The Roadster isn't a profitable business case. Everybody is keen on the car, but nobody wants to pay the bill." What Car? states that Smart
The Smart rumor mill keeps churning and this latest image adds even more fuel to the fire. Thanks to some crafty, long-lens work, a photographer has managed to capture a diminutive example of a four-passenger Smart ForTwo.
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.
Whether or not we'll ever see a variant of the SMART Roadster stateside, we'll get to live vicariously through a reader going by the name pixelthing, who seems to be enjoying his diminutive two-seater while exploring the world through the lens of his camera.
Project Kimber, the U.K. group that purchased the manufacturing rights to the Smart Roadster, announced this week that it will locate its production facility in Wales. After relocating the Roadster's production line from the Smart factory to Kimber's as yet unnamed site in Wales, the group plan to begin production by mid-2007.
Well, the rumor is now reality - DaimlerChrysler has agreed in principle to sell the rights to the Smart roadster to the British 'Project Kimber' consortium headed by David James. James' group has apparently signed a memorandum of understanding with DaimlerChrysler that covers both the rights to produce the roadster and DaimlerChrysler's production equipment for the car.
