► Euro-spec Smart #5 electric SUV revealed
► Oddball looks hide a tech-fest family mover
► Orders open towards the end of 2025 in UK
Smart’s biggest car yet has arrived, ready for its launch in Europe. We first saw images of the #5 when it was unveiled in its specification in China, but CAR has been up close and personal with the Euro-spec model that’ll launch towards the end of 2025.
‘It’s the roominess, then the design and then the technology… the whole package, for me, is the USP,’ says Dirk Adelmann, Smart’s European CEO. As he reveals to CAR that it was always the plan for Smart to go bigger, the #5 represents ‘a lot of firsts for us.’
But, seriously, why is it so big?
‘We have had 2.2 million ForTwo customers in Europe over the last 26 years, and they have grown up with the brand,’ says Adelmann. ‘We have people coming from having a Smart as the second car in the household with our German mother [i.e. Mercedes-Benz], so many of them see Smart as an extension. Now these people are looking for something in a larger segment for the family, and we couldn’t offer that until now.’
Xuan Zheng Goh, Smart’s head of product management, says: ‘What #5 does is bring us to a new audience. I guess lots of car companies say that kind of thing, but what that means in real terms is that the C/D segment SUV in Europe is the second, if not even the biggest market in Europe. Being in that space opens us up to a fairly big marketplace.
‘When you look at many ForTwo buyers, it was their first car in their early 20s,’ adds Goh, ‘so they’ve now moved on in terms of the stage of their life to one with more purchasing power. It makes sense that, if they love the brand, we can give them something that might even rekindle their youth.’
The new #5 looks almost exactly like the Concept #5 that came before it, with a boxy shape that’s been rounded off in the corners almost like a Mercedes GLB, and with unique headlight and rear light designs that stretch across the width of the car. Even so, we wouldn’t call it a looker.
That said it’s full of quirky details – just like the #1 and #3 – including floating wheel covers and frameless doors and pop-out doorhandles. But, more than anything else, the whole design is intentionally meant to separate this from those smaller cars to avoid Russian Doll-ing Smart design.
Five specifications have been revealed so far: Pro, Pro+, Premium, Pulse and the Summit special edition. The ones you see in the images are the Premium (in the sandy beige colour) and the limited-run Summit Edition with its fancy set of accessories and bespoke details.
The more road-focused models feature their own bumper and wheel designs, with the Summit model benefiting from some chunkier detailing and unique wheels. Summit models also come with an electronic tow bar and a roof rack with step ladder, too.
What’s going on inside?
It evolves some of the formula set out by the #1 and #3. What you notice early on from climbing inside is the space and the materials. Xiao Tong, the #5’s project lead, says that 90 per cent of the interior is covered in soft materials designed to make it feel plush.
What dominates, though, is the enormous set of displays that cover the dashboard. On Premium and above, that consists of a driver’s digital display as well as two 13-inch displays built into one panel. The displays run an entirely new generation of Smart’s operating system, designed to offer way more customisability than the already-detailed systems in the #1 and #3, but with a lot more common sense applied to the layouts and a smidge less distraction to boot.
Depending on your spec, you can also benefit from an augmented-reality head-up display in the windscreen and a 20-speaker Sennheiser audio system that features a speaker that rises out of the dashboard when active. Oh, and if you’re interested, the #5’s animated mascot is a ‘snow lion’ – compared to the fox in the #1 and the cheetah in the #3.
There is also oodles of space inside, with Smart particularly focusing on providing those in the second row with plenty of room; tall adults can sit behind tall adults with loads of space to spare. Smart claims a 630-litre boot area, which is good for this size in terms of total volume. But that number is a bit of a technicality as it’s the sum of the above boot floor area (which doesn’t look all that large) combined with a huge underfloor area.
Any performance specs?
Plenty.
The entry-level Pro model kicks the line-up off with a 76kWh LFP battery and a single e-motor on the rear axle developing 335bhp, which is good for a 6.9sec 0-62mph sprint and a claimed 288-mile range. DC charging is up to 150kWh.
From then up, however, the #5 benefits from a 100kWh NMC battery pack that uses an 800-volt architecture. Pro+ and Premium get 358bhp (good for up to 366 miles claimed range), while Pulse and Summit’s all-wheel drive configuration boost power to 579bhp for a 4.9sec 0-62mph sprint and a possible 335-mile range. Every #5 with the 100kWh battery is capable of up to 400kW of DC charging, pushing past the considered norm for European fast charging.
When does it go on sale?
The #5 is expected to go on sale towards the end of 2025 in the UK, with prices expected to start around the £45k mark for a basic Pro model.