Hot off the Damlier Press Site: Detroit/Stuttgart. smart USA intends to launch a five-door car on the US market within the next 15 months. This was announced by smart USA in Detroit today. The B-segment five-door car is to be sold solely in the United States and is based on vehicle architecture from Nissan. This will allow the demand of US smart customers and dealers for a larger but smart-typical car to be fulfilled very soon. “We are faced with continuing customer demand for a smart car with more seating capacity,” explained Roger Penske, Chairman of the Penske Automotive Group. “Sales and service of the five seater will be carried out exclusively by our approximately 75 smart dealerships in the United States. Together with Nissan, we will bring to market a fully equipped small car for our customers and dealers in the USA. It will fit in well with the smart brand.” Further details of the product and its distribution will be announced at a later date. smart USA, a company of the Penske Automotive Group, opened up the micro-car segment in the United States with the launch of the smart fortwo in 2008, and recently created great interest with the announcement of the smart fortwo electric drive.
I don't think it ever reached the US, but Smart did have a relatively normal 5-door hatchback in Yurp for a while. It was styled to look like the small Smart but was entirely conventional underneath. A few years ago it was killed off, never having sold very well, though the mechanically-identical Mitsubishi model continued. [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Forfour]Smart Forfour - Wikipedia[/ame]
Wow! The Wikipedia link already has a reference to the deal with Nissan. But it references an article in SFGate, not the press release.... That was fast! Matt