Smart Fortwo electric drive plugs into China.

That's one really small car for China, one giant leap for a European electric-vehicle maker. In this case, the EV in question is the all-electric Smart Fortwo ED and the automaker is the German company Daimler which is taking up a position as the first European automaker to start selling an EV in China. Daimler's Smart unit trumpeted the EV's sales at the Guangzhou Motor Show, calling the model "the clear market leader in Germany." The Fortwo ED accounts for about 40 percent of all EV sales in Germany, according to Smart.

Smart says the Fortwo ED is perfect for larger Chinese cities, with its short wheelbase, its 74-horsepower electric motor, 78-mile-per-hour top speed and single-charge range of about 90 miles. Daimler sells the Fortwo in many countries around the world, including Russia, Italy and, starting earlier this year, the US. Since then, the model has been moving about 120 units a month in the States.

Daimler is making a play for an even larger slice of China's battery-powered automotive sales. Denza, the company's collaboration with China-based BYD, will start sales of the Denza EV in China next summer, with a production version of the model scheduled to debut at the Beijing Motor Show next April.