Skip to main content

Daimler and Geely to develop Smart’s electric cars

Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz, has partnered with Chinese automotive group Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to develop Smart’s electric cars. Smart makes small vehicles designed for urban driving and the new joint venture will assemble the next generation of Smart products at a factory in China. International sales are due to begin in 2022. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Daimler board, says: “Separately, Mercedes-Benz will produce a compact electric vehicle [EV] at the Hambach plant, sustaining employ
April 9, 2019 Read time: 1 min

2069 Daimler, owner of 1685 Mercedes-Benz, has partnered with Chinese automotive group Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to develop Smart’s electric cars.

Smart makes small vehicles designed for urban driving and the new joint venture will assemble the next generation of Smart products at a factory in China. International sales are due to begin in 2022.  

Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Daimler board, says: “Separately, Mercedes-Benz will produce a compact electric vehicle [EV] at the Hambach plant, sustaining employment with further investment in the facility.”

Mercedes is investing €500 million at the French location, where the compact EV will be produced under the EQ brand.

In the run-up to 2022, Daimler will continue producing vehicles such as the Smart EQ Fortwo at the Hambach plant, as well as using its Novo Metso facility in Slovenia to produce the smart EQ Forfour.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Evolving commuters' demands to pave the way for car-sharing business models
    October 5, 2016
    Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will enhance convenience and drive growth opportunities, finds Frost & Sullivan's Mobility Team. Its latest study, Future of Car-sharing Market to 2025, says that with vehicle automation rapidly gaining currency, cars-haring operators (CSOs) are developing novel business models to address the evolving mobility demands of commuters. They will initially offer self-parking services, allowing members to drop off vehicles at designated parking lo
  • Lyft, Uber have mixed impact on San Fran mobility
    May 14, 2018
    The extent to which ride-hailing has become a real force in the mobility landscape of San Francisco is great for consumers – but there are downsides, a report finds. Andrew Stone takes a look. Uber and Lyft, the two major ride-hailing platforms in San Francisco, are out-competing local cab firms in many ways - and are firmly established as a significant part of the daily mobility mix there, a recent study reveals. Researchers mined publicly-available data derived from the application programming interface
  • Debating the future development of ANPR
    July 31, 2012
    What future is there for automatic number plate recognition? Will it be supplanted by electronic vehicle identification, or will continuing development maintain the technology's relevance? In recent years, digitisation and IP-based communication networks have allowed Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to achieve ever-greater utility and a commensurate increase in deployments. But where does the technology go next - indeed, does it have a future in the face of the increasing use of, for instance, Dedi
  • Ford splashes out $29bn on EVs and AVs
    February 18, 2021
    Connected vehicle delivery will also increase as part of automaker's deal with Google