The Smart brand was born in 1994, as an urban, elegant and chic subsidiary of the Daimler group, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. At that time, the idea of manufacturing an urban vehicle with the Mercedes star seemed little less than a pipe dream, and the subsidiary's objective was to compete with a distinctive and aspirational product in the urban vehicle segment. In 1998, Smart began its commercial expansion with a convertible model called the Smart Roadster and the small four-door urban car Smart Forfour, although without achieving the commercial objectives set by Daimler. In fact, the group lost a lot of money with the commercial launch of Smart, to the point of gradually numbing the brand until 2019, when Daimler announced an agreement with the Chinese manufacturer Geely to establish a joint venture and a co-ownership system of Smart between the two industrial groups. Geely paid around 850 million euros for 50% of Smart's shares, in addition to the possibility of establishing production centers in China and turning the brand into an electric vehicle manufacturer, taking advantage of Geely's platform and mechanics.Since then, Smart has begun to market fully electric models such as the Smart #1 and Smart #3, and plug-in hybrids or PHEVs Smart #5 and Smart #6, which are launching on the market this year. An urban revolution

Smart has presented the prototype of the new Smart #2, a model that – this time yes – must be decisive in the brand's future and must serve to increase electric car sales also in Europe. In fact, you don't need to be a genius to see that the new #2 is the spiritual heir of the Fortwo, a small city car that sold more than two million units worldwide between 2007 and 2019, just before the purchase of half of the brand by the Chinese automotive giant Geely.

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