The name which has always been renowned as a premium luxury car manufacturer also plans to go lower down the ladder in India and offer the compact car brand ‘Smart’. Mercedes is also contemplating support from their global partners Renault-Nissan for this project.
For the same Mercedes is conducting a feasibility study to understand if launching ‘Smart’ would be smart enough for them. Smart is the car which featured in the movie Da Vinci Code and includes two versions, the four-door Smart Forfour and two-door Smart Fortwo.
If everything goes well and Merc is convinced, we might see the ‘Smart’ after 2014 on our roads. The car would be the entry point to own the marquee brand Mercedes and it could be priced somewhere around 12-15 Lakhs under its current smallest global car, the A-Class.
Smart might share components and possibly the engine from Renault-Nissan. Due to economies of scale and similar interests of developing a compact engine, Merc might develop this engine in collaboration with Renault-Nissan.
According to Economic Times, Mercedes have plans to launch 10 new models in India over the next 5 year period and upto 5 models from this could be compact brands in India. While the A and B Class are almost decided along with a compact SUV, ‘Smart’ brand could form the remaining couple.
So lets wait for the ‘Smart’!
By,
Saad Khan
Editor MotorBash
Source: Economic Times
