Great news for smart owners: now when you’re mocked mercilessly by fellow motorists, you will have up to three additional passengers with whom to share your shame.

Judging the market ripe for a comeback, Mercedes-Benz has announced they will once again introduce a 4-door smart car to the market, this one hopefully more successful than the last. Expected to bear the “smart ForTwo + 2″ badge, the new ute is expected to debut in 2012 as a direct competitor for the likes of the Audi A1 and the BMW Isetta. Unlike the failed smart ForFour, however, the ForTwo + 2 will attempt to maintain as much of the traditional ForTwo’s styling as possible to avoid crossing over into treacherous Mitsubishi Colt terrain. The specifics are still sketchy, but sources expect the ForTwo + 2 to share the same RWD layout as the ForTwo, differing only in terms of wheelbase length. Providing for increased legroom without altering the basic frame of the car, the ForTwo + 2’s rear doors will be rear-hinged and extremely small, presumably in an attempt to be as little ForFour-reminiscent as possible.

Aside from the usual rumors regarding possible electric hybrid engine options, further details on the ForTwo + 2 are scarce, but we do expect more information to leak as development of the new smart continues to advance.

Source: Auto Express