Report: Smart Fortwo Electric Drive unaffected by Penske departure— Autoblog Green

Smart Fortwo ED– Click above for high-res image gallery

Last Monday,PenskeandSmartjointly announced that theirrelationship would soon come to a halt. Within a few months, Penske will hand over distribution rights, management, sales and marketing duties for Smart in the U.S. toMercedes-Benz USA. Penske's departure has reportedlyled to the end of the Smart-Nissan collaboration, but word is that theFortwo Electric Drive (ED) modelwill, at least for now, be unaffected by the handoff.

Mercedes-Benz spokesman Geoff Day toldGreen Car Advisorthat, for now, Smart's plan to lease 250 Fortwo EDs at a price of $599 a month (plus $2,500 due at signing) for 48 months wil continue. However, Day added that once the transition is complete and Penske no longer controls Smart, the team put in place by Mercedes-Benz,"may review those plans."

Gallery:Smart ED

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Photos copyright©2010 Sebastian Blanco/ AOL

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