The first major product tie-up has emerged since Smart parent company Daimler last April signed a cooperation deal with the Renault-Nissan alliance, focusing initially on small cars, light commercial vehicles and engines. Penske Automotive Group (PAG) unit Smart USA Distributor has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nissan Motor to collaborate on a new five-door, petrol-powered B-segment hatchback car for sale in the United States.
Under the MOU, Smart USA would obtain the rights “to procure and distribute” the new model from Nissan with sales starting in the fourth quarter of 2011.
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Smart USA president Jill Lajdziak said in a statement: “The new vehicle will expand Smart’s product lineup, offering five seat capacity while maintaining the core principles of efficiency and conservation.”
“There were a lot of customer requests to offer a little bit larger vehicle,” Lajdziak told Reuters. “We’re meeting the needs for what the consumer asked.”
The new vehicle would compete with Honda’s Fit [Jazz] in the growing subcompact vehicle segment, Lajdziak said. The car has not yet been named.
The new car would be built on a new global platform in one of Nissan’s manufacturing plants in the United States, Smart USA spokesman Rick Bourgoise told the news agency. This is understood to be Nissan’s new V-platform, basis of the recently launched, redesigned global Micra/March, also expected soon to underpin other new models including sedan and MPV/minivan lines.
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By GlobalDataOther US B-segment rivals will include the Toyota Yaris and the recently launched, Mexican-built Ford Fiesta line. Both Yaris and Fiesta are also offered in sedan form in the US.
Daimler-owned Smart has previously built a B-segment five-door hatch called the ForFour with Mitsubishi in a Dutch JV assembly plant. The Mitsubishi version had its own body and interior but many platform and drivetrain parts were shared. Sales of the Smart version, regarded in the market as too highly priced, were disappointing and it was axed after only a few years, along with coupe and roadster variants.
PAG chairman Roger Penske said: “We are proud to be a partner with both Daimler and Nissan, two companies focused on bringing high-quality, fuel efficient products to the US market.”
Neither company would provide more details of the “non-binding” MOU which is subject to the usual conditions, including the completion of definitive agreements.
Smart USA Distributor, a wholly owned PAG subsidiary based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, currently imports, sells and services the French-made Fortwo in the US and Puerto Rico through 75 dealers.
According to Reuters, Penske reported a loss on the Smart distribution unit in the first half of the 2010. To the end of September, US sales of the Fortwo were down 61.5% in 2010 to 4,779 vehicles from the first nine months of 2009. An updated 2011 model line has just been launched in Europe.
PAG itself has 325 retail automotive dealer franchises, representing 40 different brands, plus 25 collision repair centres. Of these, 173 franchises operate in 17 states and Puerto Rico and 152 outside the US, primarily here in the UK.
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