► Smart goes big with new #5 SUV
► But it’s always been part of the plan
► Line-up will include non-SUVs, promises boss
Think the new Smart #5 is an unholy size for something wearing the Smart badge? Turns out it has always been the plan to expand the model range and, indeed, the size of Smart’s cars – according to Dirk Adelmann, CEO of Smart Europe.
Adelmann is a Mercedes-Benz Group lifer, and has been involved in the Smart brand from its roots by helping to launch the brand into new markets when he joined the company in 2003. He’s also been in his current role as CEO since Smart was revitalised into the brand it is now, so it makes sense that he knows his stuff about what makes Smart and its customers tick.
‘We’ve never defined Smart as small,’ he says, ‘and we have always said a Smart can come in many shapes and forms.
‘When we had a product offensive in 2005, which included the Roadster, CrossBlade and ForFour… we also had the ForMore,’ says Adelmann. ‘That was already developed and ready to launch but then restructuring happened.’
The ForMore (pictured above in concept form) was designed as a high-riding compact SUV, complete with the Smart design language, that was meant to expand the brand’s model line-up in Europe. The aim was for it to capitalise on the increasingly attractive SUV market – as well as introduce more Smart models in the B and C segments. Reports say the ForMore was meant to utilise the same architecture as the Mercedes C-Class of the era to enable all-wheel drive and bigger power outputs.
‘We always wanted to go into these segments with an SUV shape,’ says Adelmann, ‘because it made a lot of sense. Finally, with #5, we can go there and with the right technology.’
This development has come about by leveraging both of Smart’s joint venture partners, Mercedes-Benz (which Adelmann calls the ‘German mother’) as well as Geely. All of Smart’s current cars run on Geely platforms for economies of scale; the #1 and #3 use SEA2 that’s shared with the EX30 and the Zeekr X, while the #5 uses PMA, an architecture used by the Zeekr 007 saloon in China.
‘But this, for us, isn’t the end of the line. We’ve now successfully launched three cars in new segments for Smart using odd numbers, and we have reserved the even ones in between for something non-SUV,’ adds Adelmann. ‘From that you can deduct that we are planning more than just SUVs.
‘We aren’t an SUV company, we’re an EV company – and the platform that we are now on [with #5] would enable an even bigger car,’ says Adelmann. ‘But if we were talking about smaller sizes, there is a limit. But with Geely and Mercedes behind you, you can imagine a lot.’