Mercedes-Benz and Geely’s joint venture micro-car brand, smart, announces it is developing a new A-segment 2-seat city car to be dubbed the smart #2.
The battery-electric vehicle, expected to be launched by late 2026, will join the brand’s current lineup of #1, #3 and soon-to-be-launched SUV, the #5.
The company says its #2 vehicle is in the final design and development phase and will be styled by a Mercedes-Benz design team and produced in China. As such, it will face European Union import tariffs depending on European Commission assessment of any unfair Chinese government support.
Also dubbed “Project: two,” the car is expected to offer consumers “a new era of individual urban automobility, especially in classic smart cities like Rome, London or Paris,” Dirk Adelmann, CEO smart Europe, says in a company statement.
Meanwhile, Hyundai releases an artist’s sketch (shown below) of its Concept Three compact Ioniq BEV concept to make its global debut next week at IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich.
Its design is inspired by “the way steel bends and flows,” the company says in a statement, pointing to the concept’s “sculpted surfaces, clean intersections and distinctive character lines, emphasizing motion” and the precision of what it describes as an “Aero Hatch.”
“Designing the Concept Three was an opportunity for us to rethink the compact EV from the ground up,” says Simon Loasby, senior vice president and head of the Hyundai Design Center, in a company release.
