Mercedes-Benz Canada has announced that the electric-only 2017 Smart Fortwo will go on sale later this summer at a starting price of $28,000 for coupe models, and $31,800 for the drop-top cabriolet variant.
Those price tags don't include provincial plug-in vehicle rebates, which total $13,000 in Ontario, $8,000 in Quebec and $5,000 in British Columbia. Ontario's generous rebate would make the latest electric Fortwo less expensive than the outgoing gasoline-fuelled models.
Earlier this year, Mercedes-Benz alerted its dealers the gas-powered version of Smart's diminutive two-seater would disappear from North America, leaving just the battery electric variant. That works well for us: as long as Smart has been selling the Fortwo Electric Drive, we've considered it the best version of a car that was always most at home in city driving.
Benz's July 4 announcement suggested both coupe and cabriolet models would be in Canadian showrooms next month as 2017 models, with 2018s scheduled to go on sale in October. But if comments by Mercedes officials at a recent first drive event are an indication, if you want one, you had better act fast: a four- to six-month delay in production (blamed on certification problems), a piling-up of orders and unexpectedly high demand may make it hard to get your hands on a convertible model before droptop weather goes away again.
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