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Smart Forfour

Smart

Smart Forfour: Smart Forfour: Four Seats, Same City-Car Spirit
Photo: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Smart Forfour: Four Seats, Same City-Car Spirit

The Forfour is Smart's four-seat, four-door take on the Fortwo formula, sharing its second-generation platform with the Renault Twingo.

The Smart Forfour extended the brand's city-car philosophy to buyers who needed room for passengers, offering four doors and four seats in a package still compact enough for tight urban streets. The second-generation Forfour, launched in 2014, was developed alongside Renault and shared its platform and much of its underpinnings with the Renault Twingo, a rare example of Smart partnering outside the Mercedes-Benz family for engineering.

Like its two-seat sibling, the Forfour was offered with efficient small gasoline engines aimed at city driving, and later joined the Fortwo in going fully electric as the EQ Forfour. That version paired the same practical four-seat layout with a battery-electric powertrain, giving small families or car-sharing fleets a zero-emission option without sacrificing the model's compact city footprint.

While still larger than a two-seat Fortwo, the Forfour never strayed from Smart's core identity of maximizing usability within a small overall size. It has since been retired as Smart concentrated its lineup on the larger Smart #1 and Smart #3 electric crossovers developed with joint venture partner Geely, but it remains a useful reminder that Smart once offered a genuinely practical four-seat city car.

Frequently asked questions about Smart Forfour

What is the difference between the Forfour and the Fortwo?
The Forfour adds two more seats and two more doors compared to the strictly two-seat Fortwo, making it a more practical choice for small families while still keeping a compact, city-friendly overall footprint.
Did the Forfour share a platform with another automaker?
Yes. The second-generation Forfour, introduced in 2014, was co-developed with Renault and shared its platform and many mechanical components with the Renault Twingo, a notable exception to Smart's usual Mercedes-Benz-only engineering.
Was there an electric Forfour?
Yes. Smart offered the EQ Forfour, a fully electric version of the four-seat model, giving buyers who needed rear seating a zero-emission option alongside the electric EQ Fortwo two-seater.
Is the Forfour still available new?
No. The Forfour has been discontinued as Smart's lineup, now developed with joint venture partner Geely, shifted entirely to compact electric crossovers like the Smart #1 and Smart #3.
Is the Forfour bigger than the Smart #1?
No. The Forfour is a small four-seat hatchback while the Smart #1 is a taller electric crossover, both larger in footprint and more modern in range and technology than the classic Forfour it effectively replaced.

Other Smart models

FortwoSmart #1Smart #3
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