Smart’s ForTwo is ready to grow!

The Smart ForTwo is growing – and here’s the picture to prove it! Auto Express has learned that Mercedes is planning to add a pair of rear doors and extra seats to its famous city car.

Doubling the Smart’s carrying capacity to four people, the new variant will give the range some added practicality, letting it compete with an upcoming raft of desirable small cars such as Audi’s A1 and BMW’s Isetta. No name has yet been give to the newcomer, but it’s likely to carry the ForTwo +2 tag, indicating that it’s very much an addition to the ForTwo line-up.

As you can see from this illustration, the new model is near identical to the two-seater, apart from a pair of neatly integrated small rear doors. These reverse-hinged units give access to two individual chairs in the back. Underneath the skin, the car features the same rear-wheel-drive layout as the regular ForTwo with the engine under the boot floor, but with a stretched wheelbase giving extra legroom.

It’s hoped that the new model will be much more of a success than Smart’s last four-seater, the ForFour. A joint venture with Mitsubishi, which also produced the Colt, the ForFour was not popular and canned after only two years.

The ForTwo+2 is still some way off from reaching showrooms, though. It’s not likely to go on sale until 2012 at the earliest – although when it does arrive, there will be a wide range of engines, all featuring start-stop, plus a fully electric model.