Author: Rezz

As May draws to a close, Beijing has been shrouded in the shadow of the epidemic for the past month. As an intended gold reservation owner of smart elf #1, I still haven’t seen the actual car.

A few days ago, Beijing’s smart sales team kept contacting me, saying that smart elf #1 will be “handed over” in early June, and asked me when I can hand in my reservation.

But on further inquiry, I found out that the first batch of showcase cars won’t arrive until the end of June.

It seems that smart is also deeply affected by the Chinese market and is now playing blind reservations.

So, I went to the smart flagship store in Hangzhou and took a look at the smart elf #1.

Start with the exterior design

Smart has now become a completely new brand, so it is difficult to find the shadow of the old smart on the smart elf #1.

The smart elf #1 uses a completely new design language. The headlight design is “cute yet fierce,” and there are also continuous LED daytime running lights. The design details actually have a rather obvious Mercedes-Benz style (smart + Mercedes-Benz GLA+GLB), making it look quite luxurious. The smart elf #1’s body size and proportions are somewhat similar to the MINI COUNTRYMAN.

In addition, as a pure electric car, the smart elf #1 also uses a “faceless” closed design. A large air intake is designed below the front bumper, and the small ventilation openings on both sides of the bumper add a sense of sportiness to the smart elf #1.

At the same time, the showcase car in the showroom, painted in “time green,” also uses a black logo. Compared to the chrome logos used by traditional models, I think the “blackened” style will be more in line with the aesthetic of young people.

See the side of the car body, the smart fortwo #1 adopts a two-color body design, and currently only the “silence black” paint can be equipped with the “fluorescent yellow” roof and body decorations.

A wide fender is designed at the front and rear fenders, which, together with the silver protective panels and black side skirts below the doors, presents the identity of the smart fortwo #1, a small pure electric SUV.

The tail lights of the smart fortwo #1 echo the front lights and also adopt a through-type design.

The internal LED light source is also highly recognizable when illuminated, similar to the design inspiration of the dazzling Mercedes Starry Sky, and overall it is full of texture.

The smart fortwo #1 comes with three preset welcome light effects and supports light shows.

Both the welcome light effect and the light show can be customized through the mobile app and uploaded to the vehicle.

Inside the car, let’s take a look at the cockpit

First look at the cockpit design

The smart fortwo #1 adopts an embedded long strip full LCD instrument panel, and is equipped with a simple three-spoke multifunction steering wheel and flat-shaped air outlet.

The full LCD instrument panel does not have a lot of display content, but has good HUD effect (high-end version).

smart fortwo #1 also adopts the retro design inherited from Mercedes-Benz, which is evident at first sight.

Smart fortwo #1 features a floating center console screen. The T-shaped central control area also uses a glossy finish, which appears fashionable, simple, and with an added sense of technology.

At present, smart fortwo #1 provides two types of interior colors. Personally, I feel that the effect of the golden center console trim panel with light-colored leather interior in the picture below is better and more in line with the positioning of smart fortwo #1 as “new luxury.”

Light-colored interiors will not seem as oppressive as black interiors, and the gold trim panel will not highlight the “plastic feel” as easily as white.

Now let’s take a look at the infotainment system.

First of all, it is obvious that the infotainment system is developed by Geely-controlled ECARX.

As the test version of the infotainment system is currently used in the show car, the 360-degree panoramic image still uses the vehicle model of Geely Star Voyager L.

The HMI design of the infotainment system’s home page is slightly more complex, incorporating many content components, such as weather, navigation, battery level, and music. However, the interaction logic is relatively simple, so it is easy to use.

In the lower right corner of the home page, a visual assistant for voice interaction called “Little Fox” has been designed. The voice assistant of smart fortwo #1 supports “visible and talkable,” scene-free wake-up, multi-tone area anti-interference, and also supports voice learning, custom wake-up words, and voice timbre selection.

The car system is smooth, responsive, and has a good resolution. Moreover, its display performance under strong light is also excellent. As for voice semantic recognition, the speed and accuracy are both superb. Not only can it engage in conversations, but it can also execute a series of operations, and this aspect confirms the full utilization of native development advantages by Geely.

It’s worth noting that smart speaker #1’s central control screen can be connected via a “Type-C data interface with power supply function.” Paired with a video capture card adapter, it can be used with Nintendo Switch, TV boxes, and gamepads.

Next, let’s take a look at the application software:

For its map application, smart speaker #1 has opted for the Gaode Map car version.

For online video applications, it has selected iQiyi, while it has chosen Yunting for online radio.

Smart speaker #1 also comes with Tencent’s online audio application, Tencent Ai Quting (including QQ Music, programs, audiobooks, news, radio, and short videos), as well as Tencent’s travel and life assistant, Tencent Suihang 2.0. In other words, Smart Speaker #1’s car system comes with two major ecological car networking applications under Tencent Automotive Intelligence (TAI) 3.0.

In terms of social applications, Smart Speaker #1 has WeChat Car version pre-installed in its car software and also has a dedicated interaction button designed for WeChat Car version on its steering wheel.

As for the scene application, Smart Speaker #1 comes with BabyFirst. BabyFirst is a Chinese child car seat brand that has previously been interconnected with the Huawei HarmonyOS system via the “Smart Ventilation Child Safety Seat.” This APP appearing on Smart Speaker #1 confirms that it supports the interconnection of intelligent child car seats.

In the in-car entertainment system, there is also an app called “Honor Town” where car owners can exchange goods with points. However, the store is currently closed and there is no information about the specific redeemable goods.

Let’s talk about other things

So, let’s organize the other features and configurations of the smart elf #1.

First of all, let’s talk about power. Currently, smart elf #1 has two power versions: the rear single-motor and the front and rear dual-motors. However, the current display car is only the single-motor version.

Smart elf #1 single-motor version: maximum motor power of 200 kW, peak torque of 343 N·m, acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds, and a maximum speed of 180 km/h. It is equipped with a 66 kWh ternary lithium battery pack with a cruising range of 535 km and 560 km under the CLTC test cycle.

Smart elf #1 dual-motor version: maximum motor power of 315 kW, an increase of 115 kW compared to the single-motor version, and other information is unknown for the time being.

Let’s talk about energy replenishment. Smart elf #1 uses 7.2 kW AC slow charging. Charging the battery SOC from 10% to 80% takes 7.5 hours. Using a 150 kW DC fast charger can shorten the charging time to within 30 minutes.

In the system settings, smart elf #1 also supports external power supply.

In addition to power, smart elf #1 also comes with various configurations such as an active intake grille, electrically adjustable external mirrors, seat memory, and rear air outlets.

Moreover, smart elf #1 is equipped with ADAS intelligent driving assistance systems, supporting intelligent parking assistance, adaptive cruise, navigation assistance, lane keeping assistance, emergency braking, and other safety assistance functions.

In conclusion

Overall, the interior and exterior design + in-car entertainment system of the smart elf #1 are both of high quality, and software and hardware are perfectly balanced.

The front and rear space is spacious enough thanks to the SUV’s styling design. The rear headroom is very spacious and there is no hump in the middle of the legroom. The rear-mounted single motor rear drive replaces the front trunk and it’s pretty good.

The space of the trunk is enough, mainly positioned for young families of 2-3 people. The material and workmanship of the interior decoration are in line with this price and level, and mainly the design is outstanding, lively and have a high sense of luxury.

From the aspects of configuration, design, and publicity tone (WeChat shortcut keys on the steering wheel, car fragrance, Mercedes-Benz logo on the C-pillar, small fox in the car, round powder cake-style car key), Smart wants to capture unmarried young men and women aged 22-32 or married women who value brand image and advanced configuration for the first car or family’s 2-3 car.

So, having said so much, the only suspense left is the price that will be officially announced next Monday. Looking forward to Beijing lifting the haze of the epidemic as soon as possible and driving the smart elf to share the experience for everyone!

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.