Smart has discontinued its roomier EQ ForFour as the brand starts planning the introduction of its first SUV later this year. 

The firm, which is renowned for its compact city cars, switched to become an electric-only brand in 2019, and first introduced its EQ ForFour EV in 2017. Offering greater practicality than the smaller ForTwo, the city-aimed model’s appeal was limited by its small 17.6kWh battery, which brought an electric range of around 70 miles. 

While Smart will continue to sell the more popular FourTwo – which remains offered in Coupe and Cabriolet body styles – the four-seater has now been removed from UK price lists, after production of it ended in December. The mechanically-similar Renault Twingo Z.E, which isn’t sold in the UK, remains in production though.

While it was Daimler’s Mercedes that helped to get Smart off the ground, the brand is also now run in cooperation with automotive Chinese automotive giant Geely, which also owns Volvo and Lotus. 

After a long period of no new metal from Smart, last September the brand showed off the Concept #1 – previewing the brand’s first SUV. It will be Smart’s first bespoke EV, and the first launched under Geely. 

According to Autocar, Mercedes will oversee the design and styling while Geely will lead the engineering, with this SUV set to arrive before the end of 2022, and being the brand’s roomiest and most upmarket vehicle yet.