New Smart Design Sketches Show The Smart's Grown A Snout
The Mercedes-Benz Passion Blog (not a car-erotica site, sorry) has published a pair of pictures that show the look of the new Smart ForTwo, about a day before the car's official unveiling. It's a little more conventional, going to a two-box look, but it's also still the cheapest rear-engine car you can get in the US.
The new Smart is based on the Renault Twingo platform, but shortened a bit, which is pretty amazing to think about, considering how small the Twingo already is. The full-length, four-door Twingo is being used as the base for the four-seater Smart ForFour, though it's not clear yet if that's coming to America.
Looking at this new Smart, we can see many of the typical Smart design cues added to the basic Twingo: the contrasting-color Tridon safety cell, the sculpted door panels, and the new, more pronounced Smart nose and face we've been seeing on Smart's concept cars for a while now.
The biggest change is that it's now a two-box design instead of one gumdrop shape. I would love to see a little bit of storage available in that new pronounced snout, but based on the architecture of the Twingo, I'm not getting my hopes up unless my luggage consists of washer fluid.
There's an interior shot as well, which looks attractive and modern, with some nice inset contrasting-color panels that I hope Smart actually has the balls to really do. The twin round center-dash instrument pods are retained from earlier Smart designs, and there's now something that looks like a landscape-oriented Android tablet or iPad stuck on the dash as well.
The pictures have a couple interesting details, even after we mentally process out the ridiculous concept-car sketch gigantic wheels. The little badge on the rear shot that says "AIR," for example. As much as I'd like to think Smart has developed a central tire inflation system, I suspect this may be the name of a new trim level.
The overall look isn't really shocking, but I think could have the potential to be striking and attractive in person. We'll have to see how the real thing looks tomorrow, but I'm hoping that one of the few remaining affordable rear-engined cars will prove to be something we'd want to drive