Forfour premieres at Frankfurt show

DaimlerChrysler AG's new four-seater Forfour model, jointly developed by the company's Smart unit and Mitsubishi, will reach breakeven point once 80,000 units are sold per year, according to Smart Group chairman Andreas Renschler.

The Forfour was premiered today at the IAA Car Show in Frankfurt.

Renschler said that the Smart group as a whole will breakeven in 2004.

In the first eight months of the year Smart sold 80,000 cars, of which 12,000 - almost 7% - were roadsters.

"Because of the excellent acceptance in the market, we have increased our production target for 2003 to more than 15,000 roadsters," said Renschler.

He also said that Smart is on the way to increasing full year sales by at least 20% compared with €1.1bn in 2002.