SmartForfour Begets i-MiEV *** WRONG ***

*** Edited: I'm wrong. The RWD i-MiEV has very little to do with the FWD SmartForfour. Please read Vike below. Thanks Vike.***

http://wikicars.org/en/Smart_Forfour
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV began its life as the SmartForfour. It was produced in Europe between 2004 and 2006 in a collaborative effort between Mitsubishi and DaimlerChrysler. When the two companies had a parting of ways, DaimlerChrysler took ownership of the original Smart Car. Mitsubishi got the larger Smart ForFour. The U.S. version of the i-MiEV was first seen at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show.

Robots assembling a Smart ForFour
at the NedCar facility in Born
.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Motors

FiddlerJohn said:

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV began its life as the SmartForfour.

Click to expand...

Well, umm, no. The FWD forfour was based on the Mitsubishi Colt, and is mechanically unrelated to its stubbier and more famous RWD stablemate, the fortwo.

The Mitsubishi i, on the other hand, was developed independently, and descends from a design first debuted at the 2003 Frankfurt auto show. Today's i (especially the international version) bears a strong resemblance to that concept car, and just about none to the forfour, which has a longer, more conventional hood to accommodate the FWD engine and drivetrain.

While I'm not sure how much cross-pollination there may have been between Smart and Mitsubishi, it's not out of the question. Mitsubishi and Chrysler worked together for many years to bring Mitsu's cars to the U.S. market. This provided Chrysler with economy cars when they didn't have anything smaller than a Valiant, while Mitsubishi got an entree to the U.S. market without having to build a dealer network, albeit at the expense of disguising their brand as a "captive import" manufacturer for Chrysler. This relationship may have opened a channel to Daimler's Smart when DaimlerChrysler was formed, but I couldn't say. While the current fortwo may use a Mitsubishi engine, I don't really know how much (if at all) its rear-engine RWD drivetrain influenced the i's designers.

But the forfour's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. It ain't the i - if anything, it's a Colt.