Photo: autoevolution
By now, you already found out about the partnership between Daimler and Renault, right? It's this joint venture that gave birth to the new smart and Twingo city cars, but now it could also produce a mini-SUV.
Autocar reports that such an SUV underpinned by the same platform as the smart forfour is already on the drawing board, which is a clear indicator that both Renault and Daimler are pushing for bigger sales volume.
Sure, building an SUV is a popular income-boosting recipe for automakers in recent times, so guess what was missing: a rugged city-oriented Sports Activity Vehicle. If that will truly happen, it's only natural to expect slightly augmented dimensions compared to the ongoing smart forfour. In fact, the smart forstars concept shown in Paris three years ago is a good starting point.
If it gets the green light, the new smart SUV will no arrive sooner than 2018 and could display retouched exterior styling, shifted towards a more aggressive aura. According to the same source, the potential smart-underpinned city SUV will retain the tight turning circle as well as the 2.2 m interior load length.
So, is the city SUV the next trend? Is it a niche that's waiting to be exploited, like a newly discovered planet full of resources? Well, one surely can't deny the SUV's power in terms of sales accelerating, judging by the raised interest in city cars lately, the mini-SUV formula looks like it could work, at least in theory.
As usual, we're interested to find out your opinion on the matter and whether you would buy such a car, provided it arrives in two or three years time.
Sure, building an SUV is a popular income-boosting recipe for automakers in recent times, so guess what was missing: a rugged city-oriented Sports Activity Vehicle. If that will truly happen, it's only natural to expect slightly augmented dimensions compared to the ongoing smart forfour. In fact, the smart forstars concept shown in Paris three years ago is a good starting point.
If it gets the green light, the new smart SUV will no arrive sooner than 2018 and could display retouched exterior styling, shifted towards a more aggressive aura. According to the same source, the potential smart-underpinned city SUV will retain the tight turning circle as well as the 2.2 m interior load length.
So, is the city SUV the next trend? Is it a niche that's waiting to be exploited, like a newly discovered planet full of resources? Well, one surely can't deny the SUV's power in terms of sales accelerating, judging by the raised interest in city cars lately, the mini-SUV formula looks like it could work, at least in theory.
As usual, we're interested to find out your opinion on the matter and whether you would buy such a car, provided it arrives in two or three years time.
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