According to German media citing insiders, Daimler CEO Ola Källenius does not see significant heritage in the Smart brand and is ready to abandon this marque without hesitation if such a step helps cut costs. This position is explained by the company's desire to focus on developing electric vehicles, which requires serious financial investments and, consequently, cost optimization.
Since the appearance of Smart in 1998, the brand has incurred losses amounting to billions of euros. To reduce costs, Daimler agreed on a joint development of the ForTwo and ForFour models with Renault. However, according to available information, the French partner may soon exit this project.
