Smart USA is to team up with Nissan Motor Company on a new vehicle that will go on sale in the United States.
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding with Smart USA to obtain the rights to distribute a five-door, petrol powered B-segment vehicle from Nissan for sale through its retail network in the US. It is expected to be made available in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The prospect of a new vehicle comes at an important time for Smart, which posted just 422 sales in the US in September – down 48.2 per cent by volume, year on year. Indeed sales for the first nine months of the year have totalled just 12,421 units – that’s a drop of 61.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2009.
Now Smart is showcasing the Smart Fortwo electric drive ahead of launching a test fleet of 250 vehicles in the US.
There are no further details of the agreement with Nissan available at this time but it appears to further the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG’s broad strategic co-operation that was announced in April and saw the Alliance take a 3.1 per cent stake in Smart’s parent company Daimler and Daimler take a 3.1 per cent stake in the Alliance.
