zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Tech
/
Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV
Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:27

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

We’ve been waiting () to see what and it’s finally here. The brand is being revived yet again, not with a cutesy city car but a premium electric SUV. The Smart Concept#1 is a preview of Smart’s serious, not so playful future.

Smart, which started over two decades ago with a tiny city car, has had an existence best described as tumultuous, with quirky city cars fighting a losing battle in a world of more normal cars, SUVs and crossovers. Now it appears they have an SUV, just like everyone else.

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

The Smart Concept#1 made its debut at the in Munich, Germany. The electric SUV is the first vehicle to come out of . The partnership, in which Geely has a 50 percent stake, brings Smart back to life with Mercedes-Benz handling design and Geely handling engineering and production.

Smart says its new vehicles will shed the brand’s playful image in favor of going premium. I feared and this SUV suggests that Smart is indeed getting serious. The vehicle , and Smart describes the five-seat concept as being near-production.

It measures in at 168.9 inches or 14 feet-long, just a hair shorter than the 169.7-inch 2022 Mini Countryman.

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

Gone is Smart’s , which used the car’s safety cage as prominent design element, often painted in a contrasting color. The contrasting color survives in the Concept#1, but as a part of its floating roof, a design element shared by many other crossovers and SUVs.

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

You’d be forgiven for not being able to tell this is a Smart. The interior ditches Smart’s past quirky designs—there are no pods sprouting out of a fabric-covered dash and the seats don’t have any funky designs on them. Instead, the interior goes for the premium look with a 12.8-inch central tablet tacked onto the dash and a floating center console.

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

Smart describes it as having the comfort and space of a business sedan. Entry to the interior is gained through touch-capacitive light panels. The concept features a glass roof that stretches over the entirety of the passenger cabin and its wheelbase is 108.3 inches, pushing the wheels out to the corners.

Image for article titled Smart Is Reborn, Again, With Its Largest Vehicle Yet, A 14-Foot Electric SUV

It’ll also be packed with technology, featuring a level-II driver assist system, over-the-air ECU updates, Beats audio and an app that allows your phone to act as the SUV’s key.

Of course, the rearward-opening doors and illuminated floors aren’t likely to make the final cut. Smart also didn’t provide any technical details. We know that the SUV Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture electric platform, but exact details beyond that are unknown.

The production version is set to make its debut in 2022, with sales potentially starting in 2023. Smart is planning on a direct sales model and before you ask, America isn’t getting it.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Tech
Ex-Faraday Future Employees Will Keep The Dream Alive At New Electric Car Startups
Ex-Faraday Future Employees Will Keep The Dream Alive At New Electric Car Startups
Two new startups are joining the electric car world—and both include executives and employees who recently departed Faraday Future, according to a new report and a source who spoke to Jalopnik. The news comes just a month after a round of top executives departed the company, including former chief financial...
Oct 19, 2026
Jaguar's All-Electric I-Pace Could Start At $76,000
Jaguar's All-Electric I-Pace Could Start At $76,000
Ahead of Jaguar Land Rover’s launch of its first all-electric vehicle, the I-Pace, there’s now reports of the car’s price-point for. when it goes into production. If reports from early reservation pan out, the crossover could come close to the base price of a Tesla Model X. Early reservation holders...
Oct 19, 2026
We're About To Be Swamped With New Electric Cars And Everyone's Blah About It
We're About To Be Swamped With New Electric Cars And Everyone's Blah About It
The growing hype this year around electric cars is about to be met with a daunting reality: despite the fact that dozens of new electrified models are set to roll out in the coming years, few have interest in buying them right now. That’s the upshot of a today. Though...
Oct 19, 2026
Apple Patents A System For Self-Driving Cars That Could Make Navigating Easier And More Efficient
Apple Patents A System For Self-Driving Cars That Could Make Navigating Easier And More Efficient
After scaling back its ambitious car plans in 2016, Apple spent this year quietly immersing itself in the field of self-driving cars, and a new patent shows the company’s thinking of more efficient ways for autonomous vehicles to get around. The patent application was published on Thursday and it has...
Oct 19, 2026
Faraday Future's Boss Ordered To Return To China To Address His Mountain Of Debt: Report
Faraday Future's Boss Ordered To Return To China To Address His Mountain Of Debt: Report
If recent reports are accurate, electric car startup Faraday Future recently netted a $1 billion investment and, in turn, named Chinese tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting its CEO. But by the end of 2017, Jia needs to return to China to sort out a mountain of debt his other companies have...
Oct 19, 2026
Nearly 10 Percent Of Uber's Drivers In The U.K. Are Working More Than 60 Hours Per Week
Nearly 10 Percent Of Uber's Drivers In The U.K. Are Working More Than 60 Hours Per Week
It’s well-known that some Uber drivers , but a new letter from the company offers some additional insight into how many seem to be plowing through most of their week behind the wheel. Uber has about 50,000 drivers in Britain, and nearly a third are logged into the app more...
Oct 19, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved