With the next one—the #5—hitting the market in a few weeks, Smart has grown up. With its 4,695 mm length, width of 1,920 mm, height of 1,705 mm, and wheelbase of 2,900 mm, it is almost double the size of the original Smart ForTwo, which saw the light of day in 1998.

Mercedes’ little brother, somewhat like the MINI is to BMW, has grown up to become the biggest Smart ever, a fully electric mid-size D-segment crossover SUV that – frankly spoken – might make things hot for the even slightly smaller Mercedes EQB. Expect the unexpected from a former city car that wants to break out of its city limits.

Mohamed (Mo) Hossein Aminiyekta, initially the Lead Exterior Designer at and now the Manager of Design Brands at Mercedes-Benz Design in Sindelfingen, is quite getting the hang of things when he sketches the growing path from the entirely ‘new’ Smart in the joint venture with Chinese Geely.

The first Smart he assisted in bringing to life on the drawing board was a challenge to migrate the image of the urban microcar to a full-fledged, fully electric city car with ample room for four or five. It had to be ‘lovable,’ something you want to touch with almost female roundings—something Coca-Cola used to its success in its typical bottle shape.

The second one, #3, was to grow even further out of its children’s clothes and is quite stretched for a brand that has built up a reputation on microcars, with its length of 4.4 meters. That one added more functionality and a more stretched coupé-like silhouette.

The next in line, the #5, had to be an SUV that would appeal to leave the city and go out on adventure. Hence, the looks of a sturdy 4X4 and the boxy style, and even, to some extent, the facia that we typically learned to associate with a brand like Jeep.

However, in design language, this is translated into pairing functional roominess, which we associate with boxy design objects like suitcases, with the female roundings of its siblings and adding the ‘unexpected.’

While MINI is a thoroughbred daughter of BMW, today’s Smart is a 50/50 joint venture with Geely—also the parent company of Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co, Zeekr, and Lotus, among others, which delivers the complete technical base and software.

Mercedes comes in for the design, in and out, and that is an asset, especially in homeland China, where this Smart is built, as the ‘Styled by Mercedes’ logo on the B-style is there to be seen by everyone as a quality stamp. It’s somewhat like a ‘Pininfarina’ signature on a Ferrari.

In Europe, Smart is marketed by Mercedes and was initially often bought as a second car for the Mercedes owner’s wife. However, that image is something Smart tries to break out of, attracting younger generations.

Design-wise, this Smart measures up to a full-blown Mercedes regarding material choices and finishing quality. It comes in five trim versions and will be available from April 24th in Germany, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. Other roll-outs will be done gradually in the second and third quarters of 2025.

In Belgium, the Smart #5 will be available from €46,700 for the Pro version, €51,700 for the Pro+ version, €56,200 for the Premium version, €56,200 for the Pulse version, and €57,700 for the Summit Edition version.

The base version, #5 Pro, is still based on the 400 V platform and gets the most economical package. It has a 250 kW (335 hp) rear-wheel drive and a 76 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery with a range of 465 km. That implies DC charging at up to 150 kW or 10 to 80% in roughly 30 minutes.

All the other versions use the new 800-volt platform and have a 100/94 kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery. Then we’re talking about 590 km range (RWD) and 540 km (AWD) and DC charging times of 18 minutes at 400 kW.

Ample room for five

Even in the basic Pro version, you’ll get ample space for five, a panoramic roof over the entire length of the car, a frunk in the front with a 72-liter capacity, and a luggage compartment in the back of 630 liters, to be expanded to 1,530 liters with backseats folded down.

In the cockpit in front, there is a clear 13” OLED center screen plus a 10.25” Full HD instrument cluster with the so-called Unreal 3D engine for smooth and realistic rendering, easily personalizable digital buttons and views, all major ADAS systems, and a nicely animated avatar of a lion, the #5’s Mascotte.

Comfort is assured with an electrically powered tailgate and electrically adjustable and heated driver and passenger seats. In subsequent versions, the comfort level crescendos with the addition of wireless device charging or leather seats with front seat ventilation and rear seat heating, not to mention a heat pump for cold wintery days.

In the highest levels, Premium and Summit, the driver is spoiled with an Automatic Parking Assistant (APA) or an Augmented Reality head-up display. The passenger in the front gets his 13-inch OLED screen, a second next to the likewise big center screen to fully explore the in-car entertainment.

That ranges from streaming music through a Sennheiser audio system with nine speakers to streaming whole movies while driving. To prevent the driver from letting his/her eyes stray off the road to the movie screen, the car will warn him and even shut off the screen if detected.

Chinese high-tech software

The latest AMD V2000 chipset, which powers an intuitive, customizable human-machine interface (HMI), is at the heart of Smart #5’s digital ecosystem. Don’t be mistaken: this software, in all thinkable common languages, is purely Chinese, and the technical underpinnings of this car are Geely.

In China, car entertainment is an even far bigger issue than in Europe, with even more connectivity possibilities, gaming, or karaoke. That goes in most cases also for advanced driver aid systems (ADAS), which often go further in semi-autonomous driving than would be allowed in Europe today.

The Summit version of this Smart #5 best embodies the road the brand wants to take with this model: breaking out of its city limits and offering a roomy, big SUV to leave the beaten track.

It’s four-wheel drive to start (like the Pulse) and offers an off-road driving mode with settings for snow, mud, or rocks, where the car’s characteristics are adapted to the terrain.

With the #5, Smart looks again well-worn to go into the battle for the next year(s), and the ultimate weapon, the Brabus version, is already waiting in the shadows. Although, as Smart Belgium’s CEO Henry Wattel says, this won’t be a walk in the park.

The EU’s import taxes on Chinese-built EVs aren’t making things easier for this Chinese-European ‘halfling.’ Something South Koreans don’t have to bother with, like Kia, which puts the Smart #1 and its sibling, the Volvo EX30, currently through hell with the EV3, a well-designed B-segment SUV that is gaining tremendous popularity.