Report: Daimler-Renault Dispute to Delay Smart Models

VIENNA – The plan to introduce multiple models of the next-generation Smart is being delayed because of a dispute between parent Daimler and partner Renault, German magazine Auto, motor und sport says.

The two auto makers are collaborating on development of the successor to the Renault Twingo hatchback and a new Smart 4-seater, as well as the next-generation Smart 2-seater.

While the next Twingo and 4-seat Smart will be manufactured at Revoz, a car plant owned 100% by Renault and based in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, the 2-seater will be made at the current Smart factory in Hambach, France.

Both auto makers have “extremely different ideas about the future quality of the common platform and the financial commitment to the development of the new cars,” the magazine says.

As a result, sales of the new Smart version equipped with a dual-clutch transmission, originally planned for second-half 2014, will be delayed for about a year, Auto motor und sport reports.

In addition, the market launch of the electric version of the new Smart reportedly will be postponed until spring 2016.

The Smart plant in Hambach is shut down for nearly two months this summer to retool for the new 2-seater. A new paint shop for water-based paint, now in operation, is among the main projects connected to the retooling.

More than 104,000 Smart 2-seaters were manufactured in Hambach last year.

The Slovenian Revoz plant also is gearing up for production of the next Twingo and Smart 4-seater, internally called the Edison project, and the factory’s summer shutdown has been extended.

The most significant part of the plant’s retooling is a new body shop that will replace the current one, Revoz Chairman Ales Bratoz, told WardsAuto earlier this year. As in Hambach, the switch to water-based paint also is part of the plant’s upgrade.

Currently, Revoz’s main product is the second-generation Twingo, but it also produces the Clio II hatchback and the Wind 2-seat roadster. Output of the Clio II for European markets ended in November, but Revoz continues making the car for North African countries.

Last year, the plant produced 130,947 vehicles, down 24.8% from 2011. More than 98% of production was exported, with France, Germany, Algeria, the Netherlands and Italy main destinations.

Revoz’s annual production peaked at 212,860 in 2009.