Smart working on fastest ForFour ever

British car magazine Auto Express has confirmed Daimler's city-car brand, smart, is secretly working on two new hot versions of the ForTwo and ForFour.

Both are likely to be badged ‘Brabus’ and be revealed at the Frankfurt motor show this September.

According to sources, the new Brabus-tuned city-cars will see power the of the current car’s tiny 0.9 turbocharged three-cylinder engine raised from 66kW/135Nm to at least 85kW -- and possibly much more.

Unlike the first-generation Brabus-powered ForTwo and ForFour, the rear-engine, rear-wheel drive city car will also be available with both the new dual-clutch automatic and five-speed manual.

While the Brabus ForTwo and ForFour have been spotted testing with a noticeably wider track, deeper front air-dam and twin exhaust back ‘box, rumours are already rife a similar rival is being hatched by famed French performance car-maker, Renaultsport.

Since the Twingo was co-developed with Smart, Renaultsport has already famously revealed a wild Twingo-based Twin’Run working prototype back in 2013 that boasted a mid-mounted 285kW/380Nm V6 hybrid and is known to be keen to get its teeth into the Twingo.

The Twin’Run is, alas, unlikely to ever see the light of day but if Renaultsport does make a Brabus rival expect it to squeeze even more power from the tiny 0.9-litre turbo engine and to have a more hard-core, track-biased suspension tune.

Sadly for us, both the Brabus or Renaultsport versions -- and indeed the Renault Twingo and Smart ForTwo and ForFour themselves -- stand little chance of ever being imported to Australia.

Renault Australia  has already ruled out initially importing the Twing,o while Daimler pulled the smart brand out of Australia before all-new ForTwo and ForFour went on sale.

Smart could eventually return if it goes ahead with a bigger SUV that’s rumoured to have been green-lit for 2018, but anything smaller for now is unlikely.