Smart has officially unveiled the second car of its rebirth. The Smart #3, which I need to remind you is pronounced “Hashtag 3,” is a crossover with one of those rooflines that may trade headroom for style. As much as it still pains me to see my favorite brand reduced to a company that follows the trends rather than blazing its own path, I think this thing is a winner.
Back in December, this car popped up on our radar when it reached China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. A neat thing about China is that MIIT publishes the Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products Announcement, which catalogs vehicles that will be available soon in China. Thus, if you look hard enough, you will know what cars may be hitting the road months before the automaker even announces it. In this case, the Smart #3’s arrival has been known a full five months before Smart unveiled it yesterday morning at Auto Shanghai. Now it’s here for real, and honestly? I’ve grown to love the look.
Smart Reborn
I’ve told this story many times, but here’s a reminder in case you don’t follow Smart closely as I do. For most of Smart’s existence, the company sold a lot of cars but didn’t really make any money. Europeans bought enough Fortwos, Roadsters, and Forfours to keep Smart’s production lines busy, however, Smart had a problem of losing cash on the sales of its cars. Making matters worse was how its plans for expansion didn’t really work out.
See, Smart’s plans to enter the U.S. market included a four-wheel-drive SUV to debut for 2006 and perhaps something weird and butch like the Crosstown concept. The company knew that SUVs sold well in America and the plan was to offer us what we were going to buy. Sadly, the money ran out and the SUV program died right before its birth. Instead, we got the Fortwo, and brass at the U.S. branch concluded that Americans wouldn’t want the economical diesel, instead saddling us with an engine not economical enough to sway buyers.
Anyway, sales in America were strong for a single year before falling like a rock. Smart pulled out of America in 2019. Elsewhere in the world, the third generation of the Fortwo didn’t quite hit the sales numbers that its predecessor did.
Either way, later in 2019, Mercedes-Benz sold half of Smart to Geely with the intention of reinventing the brand. In 2022, Smart finally achieved its goal and produced its first SUV. The #1 electric SUV (below) brought on a number of feats for Smart. The 268 HP SUV is the most powerful car produced by Smart and its Brabus version is frankly mind-boggling. At 422 HP it’s nearly three times as powerful as the previous fastest production Smart.
All of this is absolutely fantastic, but I feel like Smart has lost its brand identity along the way. When you buy a Subaru, you know that you’re getting something with Subaru’s characteristic all-wheel-drive, a boxer engine, and a reputation for safety. A Royal Enfield is about getting that that vintage motorcycle experience in the modern day. Dodge wants your heart to race in its high-powered beasts that nod to the past. Most brands out there have traits that you can point to.
For most of Smart’s existence, it was the company that produced city cars that looked weird, had surprisingly large interiors, and could park perpendicularly in a parallel space. Rip the badges off of a Fortwo and you can still tell it’s a Smart.
The ‘Hashtag Three’
The #1–the name of which is supposed to remind you of viral social media posts–sort of tried to retain some of Smart’s past with a floating roof of a contrasting color. But it sort of just comes off looking like a Mini Countryman. The #3 released yesterday has the same roof design and the MIIT filings do suggest that it will be available in contrasting colors. However, the roofs in Smart’s promotional images match the body. Take the badges off of this and does it look like a Smart?
Ok, maybe I’m a bit mean to Smart here. As Smart has indicated in its various press releases, this relaunching of Smart is supposed to make it into a “premium” brand targeted at the kinds of young people who want to buy an electric crossover with some technology and some luxury. Maybe that means buyers who haven’t been the brand’s dedicated fans for the past two decades. And that’s fine, clearly, there weren’t enough of us to turn a profit!
Smart’s release yesterday is pretty thin, but it says that this crossover was designed to be aerodynamic. The front fascia is meant to look like a shark nose and is accentuated with thin LED headlights. Its side profile features the aforementioned roof, which is supposed to meet with the rest of the body in a way that creates a tensed bow look. Of course, the sloping roof is also supposed to make the crossover give off fastback vibes.
The interior is similar to the smaller #1 crossover.
Its dashboard features turbine intake-style vents, a large 12.8-inch screen, and there’s a sizable center console that sts pretty high up. This is supposed to add to the premium feel. The infotainment system uses a globe for navigation like the #1 and also like the #1, you get an animated fox as your digital assistant. It’s still unclear why Smart’s mascot is now a fox.
Despite the sloping roof, Smart says that the longer wheelbase of the #3 gives it more interior room than the #1. Interior space details haven’t been announced at this time. Smart does say that the interior features a 13-speaker Beats system and ambient lighting, features I wish my Fortwos had!
Also new are the colors. The #3 will be available in a fantastic metallic orange as well as a matte sky blue and the interior will have a brown available. Specs haven’t been revealed either, but it’s rumored to have similar specs as its smaller sibling. That would mean a base version with a 268 HP motor driving the rear wheels. A Brabus version would add a 154 HP front motor, adding the total output to 422 HP and making for a 60 mph sprint in 3.9 seconds. If the platform is the same underneath, it would have a 66 kWh lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese battery and WLTP cycle range of around 273 miles. Two published figures that we do know are that it weighs 4,166 pounds and should have a tow rating of 3,527 pounds.
In case you were wondering why Smart skipped the #2. David Browne, CEO of Smart UK, has confirmed that the Smart Fortwo will be getting a replacement. Ineos is still producing the third-generation Fortwo at Smart’s former factory in France until its Geely-engineered replacement is ready. Mercedes-Benz is expected to pull the plug when the new Fortwo (presumably the #2) is ready to be produced in China sometime next year.
I know that the idea of a crossover trying to be a coupe isn’t much in the way of excitement, but I do like this design. It reminds me of the Infiniti FX/QX70 , a recent Holy Grail entry. This would even boast the same kind of tire-shredding power. I bet these will fly out of Smart dealerships. Still, it’s sort of hard to grasp that this is what Smart is now. It would be like if Chevrolet turned the Corvette into a Silverado.
Sadly, this is another new Smart where Americans have to look away. Smart says that this is coming to Europe and to China. Europeans will be able to see it at the International Motor Show in Germany this September before it goes on sale in 2024.
(All Images: Smart, unless otherwise noted.)
-
How Off-Roading A Smart Fortwo Completely Changed My Life
-
How Getting Accused Of A Felony Motivated Me To Fix A Broken Car
-
Smart Finally Made A Car Americans Would Buy So Of Course America Can’t Have It
-
Nobody Is Asking For Animated Digital Car Assistants So Someone Should Tell BMW And Mini That
Want to write for The Autopian? Pitch us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
I like it.
But I will absolutely never fucking call it the ‘hashtag 3’.
Even if I went ahead and bought one, I’d call it a ‘number 3’.
I just saw where the inventor of the hashtag recently quit Twitter.
I guess these hashtag cars are doing a similar thing for Smart, except with fun. Smart’s quitting fun.
They’re fine. Handsome designs, even. But they’ve lost the quirkiness that made them a Smart.
Wait, wait wait I want to meet the think tank that named this car “#3” as in “hashing 3”.
It sounds like a group of white marketing guys in their 50’s desperately trying to hang on to their youth naming a car which obviously must be marketed at them ‘hip young wippersnappers’ with their flapper hats, cheekly showing off some ankle, while they’re sinning & smoking at gin joints & speak easys, dancing the Charleston.
Now dang Nabit where did that cloud* go!?!
*to yell at obvs.
1. Well there used to be a saying sly as a fox so not a bad get.
2. Any business that loses money on a sale is doomed to fail.
3. If smart kept the experience the same anyone familiar with smart wouldnt look at the new cars. Like hey we are launching the new Yugo. They needed to break away but if a success could do a retro model.
4. Smart was stupid. They put all their eggs in the small goofy looking basket And too much tech that made margins small at the affordable price point. Had they put out a minimalistic car small, economical easily swapped plastic body panels with all kinds of crazy colors with great fuel economy but lo tech they would have been moderately successful. Thing the van by the river, the small house craze, now maybe traveling wifi but nothing that costs money. A radio that plaus songs from a thumb drive fine or maybe bluetooth but all the fancy screens and expensive hook ups like google play, apple play autoerotica play just to pricey.
Does this look like an EV Kia Soul to anyone else? Though, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I was not, actually. I will wonder about the sanity of their marketing department if they ever actually release a car called the #2 though.
So they have the “I gotta go #1”.
The soon to be “I gotta go #2”..
And now the embarrising “I gotta go #3” for you know when last night was really late & you don’t remember any of it
No car needs a center console that high. Unless it’s the car from Spy Hunter.
Then you need quick access to the controls for the machine guns, rocket launcher, oil slick, and smoke screen.
I recently coined the term Turtle Top to describe such vehicles. I thinks it’s a very apt descriptor. If you like it, spread it around. 🙂
(Mercedes, please do not ignore this post 😉 )
This is an EV, which might make it a Utopian Turtletop.
This is not coming to the States? That Smarts. Also, “smart as a fox” is a saying, hence new mascot.
I thought the expression was “crazy as a fox”…seems equally apropos
You may be right, although the smart fox did jump over the lazy dog.
That fox was “quick”, not smart. Perhaps Smart’s marketing department also forgot their typing lessons? 😉
That fox was also brown for some reason, even though foxes are traditionally red. Perhaps it had a run-in with the Smart #2?
Damn, outfoxed, again.
But what does the fox say?
Only if you buy me a Mercedes.
No sly as a fox i am old i know
I was admittedly never a huge fan of what Smart had going on, but I at least admire their drive to be different, and I’ve always wanted to give one of the roadster’s a go. This, though… all I can see is VW id design language. Everything that was unique about the brand seems to have vanished.
And the UI on that touch screen looks atrocious.
You say “coupe crossover”, I say “hatchback with a lift kit”.
I’m no aero expert, but I believe a big reason for the rising popularity of “fastback” CUVs is a decrease in Cd. For EVs especially, dropping the roofline to add 10-20 miles of range on a full charge may be worth crowding rear seat passengers for many. Even for ICE/hybrids, getting that little extra range may help in meeting CAFE standards in the US and whatever the Chinese and EU equivalents are. Every little bit helps.
I’m so old that I still call it the “Pound Three”.
That’s Aunt Agnes’s number on speed dial.
I am number 3
Ha, that’s how I read it.
The Smart #3, which I need to remind you is pronounced “Hashtag 3,”
I will never call it the Hashtag 3. It’s the Pound 3.
Reminds me of the time I went into the Apple store and asked the associate if I could buy an iPhone X (and I pronounced it as “EX”, not “Ten”). I knew it was the iPhone 10, but for some reason, my brain did a fart at that exact moment and I became literal.
I want to read it as “number 3” and damn well will.
And I will call it the Octothorpe 3, just to be that guy.
I like the concept, need to see the final version and price.
The eight year old in me is probably gonna hold out for the #2.
If a #1 is pee and a #2 is poop, I’m more than a little curious to know what the 8-year old in you thinks a #3 is? Wait…you know what? I’m good. Don’t answer that.
Aesthetically, it’s an attractive design, but I really think I’d feel claustrophobic on long drives with that center console. The last North American market Taurus seemed to have a similar feel going on
I can’t buy this car for the same reason I can’t buy a Porsche or a Jaguar. I’m averse to saying it the right way