Paris, France - Smart has shown its latest-generation Fortwo with electric drive to an international audience for the first time at the Paris Motor Show. In future, the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive will be demonstrated in everyday service in the project “e-mobility Berlin”, which Daimler AG presented together with energy provider RWE at the beginning of September 2008.

The company announced that since the launch of the first Smart in 1998, more than a million units, in gasoline and diesel variants, have been produced. It is currently on sale in 37 countries, with introduction into the U.S. in January 2008, and with a scheduled introduction into China in mid-2009.

At the end of 2007, Smart leased 100 electric versions of its last-generation model in a pilot project in London to gain real-world experience with electric drive, equipped with conventional batteries. The new Smart Fortwo ED will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery in future.

“As the capital and Germany’s largest city, Berlin is the right place for this project,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, president and CEO of Daimler AG. “The future will see an ever-increasing proportion of traffic on the roads in urban centres around the world. Zero-emission electric cars could shape the image of environmentally-aware cities, because zero local emission motoring is no longer science fiction, and also when seen as a whole, emissions will be further reduced as the proportion of ‘green’ electricity increases. The future of mobility is green. We invented the car, and we will do it again.”