Smart #1

Early examples of Smart’s new dawn didn’t instantly impress. We try the EV hatchback on UK roads

Before we dive into the details of the Smart #1, some context. At the long histories of Porsche or Opel and you’ll find that they still produce much the same kind of cars as they did around their foundation – sporty luxury cars for the former and dependable middleclass transport for the latter.Others have experienced serious mission creep, even in a relatively short time. You won’t find it in the literature for the Smart #1, but the name Smart was originally conceived as a slightly contrived acronym for Swatch, Mercedes, Art. The project originated not with a major car manufacturer but with Swatch, a Swiss maker of affordable watches, who wanted to make a city car that embodied the spirit of its timepieces.As Google and Apple have found out, making cars is a tough side gig, so Swatch settled on Mercedes-Benz as an experienced partner. But the realities of car making soon bit and Swatch gradually realised it was morphing into the kind of project it didn’t want to be involved in. Even when Smart was exclusively under Mercedes-Benz, it started to shift from making just the clever tiny cars it’s still known for to making simply A Car, in the form of the Mitsubishi-based Forfour.Twenty-five years after the launch of the original Smart, even Mercedes has come to the conclusion that the original idea wasn’t a very good one. ‘Good’ in this case means lucrative, because there is plenty of demand for well-designed small cars. So it decided to sell off 50% of the business to noted home for mismanaged European car brands Geely.The first product of this joint venture is the #1, an electric hatchback that takes the fight to the Volkswagen ID 3, Kia Niro EV, MG 4 and Peugeot e-308. That’s a tough field of competitors, so the #1 needs to do better than the original Forfour did all those yearsRange at a glanceModelsPowerFromPro 51kWh268kWh£32,500 (est)Pro+ 66kWh268kWh£35,950Premium 66kWh268bhp£38,950Brabus 66kWh422bhp£43,450The Smart #1’s powertrain is tied to the trim level. All currently available #1s have the same 66kWh battery. Pro+, Premium and Launch Editionuse a single rear motor, whereasthe Brabus adds a second, smallermotor at the front. A Pro modelwith a smaller LFP battery and the same 268bhp rear motor is likelyto join the range soon. It is priced at €37,490 in Germany