First look: smart's five-door forfour

THIS is your first look at the smart forfour, a small five-door hatchback due on sale in Europe in the second quarter of 2004.

Based on the same platform hard points as the Mitsubishi Colt recently launched in Japan, the largest smart yet will make it to Australia in the early part of 2005.

It will be the third smart model to make it to these shores, following the city-coupe and cabrio which go on sale in May and the roadster, which follows in November.

It should also be by far the most popular once the model range is in place, with Mercedes-Benz shooting for 1000 smart sales annually here, around 800 of them accounted for by the forfour.

Pricing this far out is obviously not locked down, but a starting point around $30,000 is the present target.

In Europe, buyers of the 3.75 metre forfour will have a choice of three petrol and two diesel engines, but here expect much less diversity with the Australians weighing up small petrol engine choices between 1.2 and 1.5-litres.

Only limited information has been issued by smart about the forfour, but standard design features like the "Tridion" safety cell and two- colour exterior are part of the package.

Smart is promising some innovative interior ideas in the forfour which, as the name suggests, seats four people.

The name also signals the start of a new naming policy for the smart range.