The Electric SUV for People Who Care About Both Things
There is a specific kind of car buyer the Smart #1 was built for. They want something that looks sharp in a city parking garage. They want technology that feels current - not just adequate. They want enough range to drive to the coast and back without pulling over to check an app. And somewhere, quietly, they want to know the car won't crumple if something goes wrong.
That is the person who should be paying attention here. The Smart #1 isn't chasing the buyer who needs the biggest boot or the longest range or the cheapest badge. It's after the one who wants the full package compressed into a compact frame - and is willing to pay a thoughtful premium for it.
Young professionals upgrading from a hatchback. Urban families who find 4.3 meters manageable. Design-aware buyers who'd normally look at a Mini or a Renault 5 but want something with more interior space and considerably more tech. The Brabus version, at 422 bhp and 3.9 seconds to 100 km/h, also quietly appeals to people who like fast things but don't want a car that announces it.
If you want an electric car that passes the design test, the safety test, and the range anxiety test - simultaneously, in one purchase - the Smart #1 makes a serious case for itself.
From Swatch Watches to Chinese Factories - The Unlikely Origin of Something Good
Smart started as a joke told seriously. In 1994, the Swiss watchmaker SMH - famous for Swatch - sat down with Daimler-Benz and decided they would build the smallest useful car in the world. The acronym stuck: Swatch Mercedes ART. The Fortwo arrived in 1998. Two seats. A turning radius that embarrassed sports cars. Body panels that snapped off and swapped like watch straps.
It was charming, polarizing, and completely impractical for anyone who occasionally needed to carry a second human being. For twenty years, Smart made variations on a theme: tiny, two-seated, urban. The brand never really grew.
Then in 2020, Mercedes-Benz made a decision that looked peculiar on paper: hand 50% of the brand to Geely, the Chinese automotive conglomerate that owns Volvo, Polestar, and Zeekr. Let them engineer the cars. Keep Mercedes designing them. Build everything in Xi'an, China.
The result, unveiled at the 2021 IAA Munich Motor Show as a concept and launched in production form in April 2022, was the Smart #1 - a five-door electric crossover that shares exactly nothing with the Fortwo except the name and the ambition to be useful in a city.
The Brabus version does 0-62 mph in 3.9 seconds. The original Fortwo did it in about fourteen.
Smart #1 - Then vs. NowThe platform underneath it - Geely's SEA2 architecture - also underpins the Volvo EX30 and the Zeekr X. Two different premium brands. Same bones. Different bodies, different software, different positioning. Smart's version gets the Mercedes design treatment: exterior lines penned by Yi Gao and Mohammad Aminiyekta, interior details you'd expect to find in something more expensive.
What Actually Makes It Worth Your Attention
The Smart #1 Pro+ variant delivers 420 km of WLTP range from a 62 kWh NMC battery. The Premium trim pushes that to 440 km. Those aren't record-breaking figures - the Volvo EX30 and Kia EV3 both compete in this space - but they're honest numbers that make the car genuinely usable without planning your life around charging stops.
When you do need to charge, 150 kW DC fast charging gets you from 10% to 80% in under 30 minutes. The 22 kW AC home charging rate is one of the faster three-phase figures in the class - a full charge from empty in about 3.5 hours on a suitable wallbox.
The Pro+ and higher trims also include V2L - vehicle-to-load - at 3.7 kW. That is enough to run a camping setup, power a portable device bank, or in a pinch, run an extension lead to something useful. It is not a feature most buyers use weekly. It is the kind of feature that makes you glad it is there when you need it.
Inside, the 12.8-inch central touchscreen runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon SA8155P - the same chip that was used in flagship smartphones a year before most car brands were still arguing about whether touchscreens were a good idea. The screen is fast. Responsively, genuinely fast. The 9.2-inch digital instrument cluster is clear. There is a 10-inch head-up display on higher trims.
The wheelbase sits at 2,750 mm - longer than the car's compact footprint would suggest - which means rear-seat legroom that surprises passengers who expected to feel squeezed. The panoramic glass roof standard across most trims amplifies that sense of space further.
What the Reviewers Said
The Smart #1 landed well. Not universally without criticism, but well enough that its scores sit consistently high across the automotive press that tested it thoroughly.
"Beautifully made, refined and pleasing to drive." High praise for the interior quality, suspension balance, and rear-wheel-drive handling.
96% adult occupant protection. 89% child. 88% safety assist. One of the highest safety scores ever recorded in Euro NCAP's testing history.
Named one of the UK's safest cars at the 2023 What Car? Awards. Placed second overall across all models tested for safety.
Conducted a full-year long-term test. Noted consistent real-world usability, comfort, and measurable improvement from OTA updates over time.
"An interesting alternative to the familiar names." Strong technology, strong interior quality. Called the hashtag name "unforgivably bad." Fair.
Particular praise for the interior quality and technology relative to the price point. Positioned as a genuine value proposition in the premium compact EV segment.
The criticisms, when they came, clustered around specific things: the animated fox avatar on the voice assistant (universally mocked), the decision to launch without Apple CarPlay (reversed by OTA update in 2023), on-screen climate controls, and a 273-litre boot that is adequate but not generous. The frunk - the small storage space under the front hood - was described as "largely useless" by at least one reviewer. These are real observations, not fatal ones.
About That Fox
The Smart #1 launched with an AI voice assistant fronted by an animated fox avatar. The fox would appear on the 12.8-inch screen when summoned. It would speak. It would, by most accounts, be precisely the kind of thing you turn off and never think about again.
Nearly every review mentioned it. Some were bemused. Some were actively hostile. The fox became an accidental shorthand for a broader question about whether Smart - and Chinese-market EV software in general - had calibrated what European and Australian buyers actually wanted from their car's interface.
Smart launched without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, apparently believing their own system was sufficiently good. In July 2023, an OTA update added both - wirelessly - to every existing #1 on the road. No workshop required. The fox remained, but now shared the stage with more familiar companions.
The OTA capability itself is the more interesting story. Features added after purchase, improvements deployed to cars already in driveways - this is the software-defined vehicle model in practice. It works. The Smart #1 is measurably better today than it was at launch, for everyone who bought one at launch.
The Brabus - When a Compact SUV Gets Serious
Brabus has been tuning Mercedes vehicles since 1977. They have built 800-horsepower versions of the S-Class. They are not, historically, a brand associated with small electric crossovers. And yet here we are.
The Smart #1 Brabus adds a second motor at the front axle, switching from rear-wheel drive to all-wheel drive, and pushing total output to 315 kW - 422 bhp in old money. The 0-100 km/h time drops to 3.9 seconds. Top speed is 180 km/h. WLTP range comes in at 400 km on the larger 62 kWh NMC battery.
The Brabus also gets specific exterior touches - matte grey paint options, red brake calipers, Brabus badging - and a Beats audio system that several reviewers found genuinely impressive. Pricing in the UK starts at £43,450, and in Germany at €48,990.
For context: that is a car that out-accelerates a Porsche Macan base, fits in a compact parking space, and can be fully charged at home in 3.5 hours. The original Smart Fortwo did 0-100 in roughly fourteen seconds. Progress is measurable.
The 96% Number That Changes the Conversation
Euro NCAP is the benchmark. Five stars is the goal. The Smart #1 earned five stars in 2022 with a 96% adult occupant protection score - one of the highest figures ever recorded in the test's history at the time.
The body structure uses 74% high-strength steel and 19% press-hardened steel. Seven airbags are standard. The autonomous emergency braking system detects vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. The car also includes blind-spot monitoring, front and rear cross-traffic alerts, a door-open warning system (useful in urban environments where cyclists appear suddenly), and emergency manoeuvre assist.
Australia's ANCAP independently confirmed the result: 96% adult, 87% child, 94% safety assist. What Car? UK placed the #1 second overall across every car tested in their 2023 safety awards. This is not a footnote. For buyers choosing between similarly priced compact EVs, the safety delta can be the deciding factor.
How It Got Here
Eight Things the Brochure Doesn't Say
- Smart is an acronym: Swatch Mercedes ART. Named after the watch brand that co-founded it with Daimler-Benz in 1994.
- In China, the car is marketed as 精灵#1 (Jingling #1). 精灵 translates as "sprite" or "elf." The naming committee was clearly having a better day than the team that chose "hashtag one."
- The SEA2 platform also underpins the Volvo EX30 - two premium brands, entirely different cars, same floor. Geely's platform strategy in action.
- Smart launched without Apple CarPlay believing their own infotainment was sufficient. They added it via OTA update in 2023. To every car already on the road. No appointment needed.
- The Brabus variant produces 422 bhp from a car that is 4.27 metres long. It is shorter than a Volkswagen Golf.
- The 96% adult occupant protection score in Euro NCAP 2022 testing was one of the highest ever recorded in the test's history at that point.
- Smart was the first major automotive brand to commit fully to an all-electric lineup - that decision was made in 2019, before most rival brands had begun their transitions.
- The animated fox AI assistant became a recurring punchline in essentially every published review. The fox persists. Reviewers persist in mentioning it.