Thursday, October 7, 2010

Nissan and Smart team up for new subcompact

In an attempt to jumpstart its sales in the U.S., Smart has teamed up with Nissan to build a new subcompact car. Speculation is that it'll be based on Nissan's new Micra chassis. Smart needs something other than the ForTwo to survive, its sales have been less than savory and have been steadily declining. Nissan's Versa, however, has been a titan among the small cars in terms of sales this year, eclipsing nearly everything else on the market. However, the the Versa is also the biggest small car in the segment. More details to come, no doubt. I have a feeling this could get interesting, though ...

5 comments:

Darb said...

I just fell in love.

Andy Lilienthal said...

Should be interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the real version.

badMongo1973 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
badMongo1973 said...

I think this collaboration is great, maybe Nissan can help drive down the cost of Smart's next offering.

You know, If Smart ever really was smart they would continue to produce their current ForTwo, just price it like a sub-compact.
In Portland Oregon the Smart ForTwo starts for ~23,000$US. Why would anyone buy this when they can get the same economy from a Toyota Yaris which starts at ~12,000$US? The failure of the Smart ForTwo is it cost double the price of other cars in it's class. I have driven a Smart ForTwo, for the size / what ammenities are included / and percieved build quality of the vehicle, I would pay no more than 10k for one "New". Americans are not going to pay big money for small cars, the proof is in the sales.
I'll keep just my 90' 4WD Subaru Justy :)
-Eric aka. RedRooJusty :)

carpet the world said...

It does sound pretty interesting. And just by the look of it, I would love to have one! 2 brains are better than 1.