Remember Smart? Yes, the maker of quirky cars such as the ForTwo, Roadster, and ForFour is still around and Daimler has formed a joint venture with Geely in a bid to revive the troubled marque. An all-electric crossover has been previously confirmed and will arrive in 2022 once production starts at a new factory in China.
Meanwhile, a concept car will be debuting this September at the IAA show in Munich. To give us an idea of what to expect from the new zero-emissions crossover, Daimler’s design chief Gorden Wagener has shared several design sketches on his personal Instagram account. Bear in mind the unnamed concept is not Smart’s first crossover attempt as the ForMore conceived in the 2000s follow a similar formula, but never made it to production.
While the design is led by Smart’s in-house team, underneath the skin it’s basically a Chinese car as the vehicle will ride on Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform. You can tell just by looking at these teasers the crossover will be significantly larger than the pint-sized Smart cars we’re all familiar with and there’s a good chance it will mimic the Mini Countryman in terms of size.
Expect the overall length to exceed four meters to enable a spacious cabin with enough room for up to five adults. The styling is shaping up to be a significant departure from the aging models Smart is offering today, and that will even extend to the company’s logo. The plastic panels and exposed safety cell appear to be a thing of the past, signaling the brand is adopting an entirely new design language in the EV era.
Originally going on sale only in China and Europe, the Smart electric crossover is expected to get a five-star EuroNCAP rating as Geely is prioritizing safety for its new SEA architecture. While technical specifications are not available, it seems likely the new Smart car will offer in excess of 200 miles of range, which would be more than adequate for a city-oriented vehicle.
We’re hoping to learn more about the production version this fall when the concept will premiere at IAA.
Source: Gorden Wagener / Instagram
