Smart Roadster Revival Considered for the Electric Era

One of them is the smart Roadster, a two-door, two-seater tiny sports car that measured only 134.9 inches (3,427 mm) in length and stood 46.9 inches (1,192 mm) tall. It was produced in France between 2002 and 2005, and it is estimated that a little over 43,000 copies saw the light of day.

If everything goes as planned, then we might see a brand-new Roadster in the company's family. Smart's Europe CEO, Dirk Adelmann, recently had a chat with Autocar on this topic, and he was very open to the idea of bringing this nameplate back from the dead and using it on a spirited vehicle.

Adelmann also revealed that one of his colleagues presented a few drawings of a potentially new Roadster some four years ago when Geely acquired a 50% stake in the company and answered a question with another question: "We have three great cars, and none of them is a Roadster. But why not?"

The CEO's first company car was a smart Roadster, so he is very fond of this model. "If we do a Roadster, rest assured it will be very compact for a two-seater," Adelmann added. In plain modern fashion, a potential revival of this model would be fully electric and would remain true to the original car's spirit despite its zero-emission nature.

It should be quite tricky to revive the smart Roadster and make it a BEV. As we're sure you remember, the original had a supercar-like rear mid-engine and rear-wheel drive layout. Mind you, it didn't set any speeding records, as the motor was tiny. It packed a 0.7-liter three-cylinder lump engineered by Mercedes and came with two outputs: 60 hp (61 ps/45 kW) and 80 hp (81 ps/60 kW). The Roadster Coupe featured the punchier unit, and a six-speed automated manual delivered the thrust to the rear axle.

The smart Roadster was praised for its swiftness and became a hit in certain circles by proving that a car does not have to pack a massive mill and be quite large to supply a generous dose of adrenaline to its occupants upon right pedal abuse.

It tipped the scales at just under 800 kg (~1,760 lbs) and a little more for the Coupe (that's not a typo!), and we hope the car manufacturer will manage to retain its DNA in a hypothetical revival despite going all-quiet on us. The rumored EV should be an urban cruiser, and if it gets the green light for assembly, then we might see it before the end of this decade.