Smart to Become EV Only for US and Canada
Auto NewsWhen it first launched, Smart was a brand with a huge amount of promise. Compact cars for city use in a world that's growing increasingly crowded- of course it sounds like a great idea, but somehow in practice it didn't quite work out. The best thing to do when a model isn't working out is to change focus; according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mercedes-Benz USA has issued a letter to its dealerships that it will no longer sell cars with internal combustion engines after September 2017.
What does this mean? Well, Smart is going to be dedicated to EVs, but for now it seems like it will only be for the North American market (inclusive of Canada). With only 6,211 Smart cars sold in the US last year, it's easy to understand why they're axing most of their products and trying a different strategy that may just work out the way they originally intended.