German luxury carmaker Daimler has begun production of the new 'smart fortwo' electric drive car at its Hambach facility in France.
According to the carmaker, the new two-seater electric vehicle (EV) will be powered by a 55kW electric motor, which will allow the vehicle to accelerate from 0 - 60 km/h in 4.8 seconds offering a maximum speed of 125 km/h.
Daimler claims that the 17.6kWh battery will allow the EV to deliver a range of nearly 145km in city, while consuming 15.1 kWh/100 km.
The components for the EV are supplied by the Daimler's joint ventures with the German firms including Bosch and Evonik.
The new EV is offered in two variants which include a Coupé and Cabrio which will be on sale in late summer 2012 at a price of EUR18,910 and EUR22,000,00 excluding battery.
Including battery both Coupé and Cabrio variants will be available at a respective price of EUR23,680,00 and EUR26,770,00.
The company is also investing EUR200m to completely modernise the Hambach smart plant, which was set up in 2007.