Smart, the carmaker most famous for its dinky two-seater ForTwo city car, has launched its first-ever SUV. The awkwardly-named #1 (pronounced Number One - please don't make one called #2, Smart, as the jokes just write themselves...) is a compact (4.2-metre) crossover with electric power only.
Chinese co-operation
Smart, as a brand, has actually been electric-only for some time, but this is its first foray into making a crossover (the previous Mitsubishi-based ForFour hardly counts...). The #1 is the first fruit of a tie-up between Mercedes (which has owned the Smart brand from the get-go, originally creating it with Swiss watch giant Swatch) and Chinese carmaker Geely. Geely, you'll remember, already owns Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus (amongst others) but also owns a major shareholding in Mercedes. When Mercedes, two years ago, decided that Smart's numbers just weren't adding up, Geely stepped in to save the brand by going into partnership with Merc.
440km range
Gorden Wagener, Chief Design Officer of Mercedes said: "The new Smart #1 stands for the re-start of the smart brand and showcases our new design DNA of 'Sensual Product.' It is grown-up, cool and embodies beauty with smart solutions. Therefore, it is new, fresh, and enchanting. Our new smart #1 has the potential to make Smart a leading design brand."
Inside, the #1 gets a minimalist cabin, focused around digital instruments and a 12.8-inch central touchscreen, has software that gets over-the-air updates, and promises a "digital avatar as an intelligent companion with AI-based voice control within its user interface." All sounds a bit Terminator to us, but OK...
The Geely platform means that the Smart #1 gets a 66kWh battery, which means a (still TBC) range of around 440km. The battery can be charged at 150kW DC, or AC-charged at 22kW which is really helpful if you're using a kerb-side charger. Power comes from a 271hp electric motor, making it by quite some distance the most powerful Smart model of all time.
Smart is also promising - threatening? - an "intuitive digital ecosystem for its customers" which seems to include paying for optional extras through the touchscreen, something that's going to be tiresomely commonplace with most car makers in the coming years.
Irish sales?
Dirk Adelmann, CEO of Smart Europe said: "We are very proud to finally present the production version of our smart #1. It is not only a symbol for our new smart approach, but it is also the nucleus of all things to come. With the re-branding, we will put an even greater focus on a seamless mobility experience."
The Smart #1 will be made - in China - with right-hand drive, and is due to go on sale in the UK towards the end of this year. So far, no announcements about any Irish imports have been made. Smart briefly entered the Irish market in 2002 with the ForTwo and the gorgeous Smart Roadster, but it didn't last long - high prices and the focus on two-seat models saw it scuppered in Ireland. Will a more broad-appeal model such as this #1 secure an Irish return? We'll have to wait and see.