Smart Announces the Launch of the New Car Elf #1

On June 6th, the first day that Beijing resumed normal dining and working and entertainment routines, Smart officially announced the launch price, reservation rights, and financial plans for its new car, the Car Elf #1. When you open the official website, you will see a brand-new way of selecting and customizing cars: choosing based on performance or appearance. On the left side, there are three configurations, pure+, pro +, and premium, arranged in order, which is consistent with the way men choose cars. On the right side, you can choose the exterior color, roof color, and interior color first, which is consistent with the way women choose cars.

Gradual Price Reduction

The CLTC range of the Smart Car Elf #1 is 535-560 km, and its acceleration speed from 0 to 100 km/h is 6.7 seconds. The entire series is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor with a maximum power of 200 kW (the premium version is equipped with a more efficient SiC silicon carbide permanent magnet synchronous motor). The official retail prices are 18.16/19.66/22.66 yuan respectively.

Observant friends will notice that the Pro+ model is 6,600 yuan more expensive than its presale price of 190,000 yuan. However, the price of the Premium model is 3,400 yuan less than the presale price of 230,000 yuan, and the entry-level price for the entire series is 8,400 yuan less than the presale price.

For friends who pursue the Smart brand, a lower entry barrier is definitely a good thing. For friends who want both the brand and high configuration, the officially announced price of the top-of-the-line Smart Car Elf #1 model is 3,400 yuan lower than its presale price, which is also a good thing.

Owner’s Rights

First of all, Smart has given each car-buying privilege a name, forming 7 BUFF groups, similar to the way buffs work in games, but here they refer to owner’s rights.

Just looking at the BUFF names, we certainly don’t know what’s inside, so we will break them down and briefly explain them:

① Cash BUFF:2022/06/06 to 2022/07/31, pay a deposit of 5000 yuan, Pure+ version can be deducted 2000 yuan for the final payment, Premium version can be deducted 9000 yuan for the final payment; 2022/08/01 to 2022/09/30, pay a deposit, Premium version can be deducted 4000 yuan for the final payment.

Cash BUFF interpretation: Make the reservation early, and the top configuration can save up to 9000 yuan. If you are late, you can only save 4000 yuan at most.

Pioneer BUFF:

Before 23:59 on June 5, 2022, pay an intention fee of 500 yuan. Complete the remaining deposit payment before September 30, 2022, and deduct 1000 yuan for the final payment.

Pioneer BUFF interpretation: The intention fee is not as powerful as the deposit.

Charging BUFF:

From 2022/06/06 to 2022/09/30, the first car owner who pays the deposit will receive a 7.2kW home charging pile, including free installation, 30 meters of free cable, and a two-year free warranty.

Charging BUFF interpretation: It is equivalent to giving away a charging pile with a value of 5800 yuan and installation fees.

Personality BUFF:

From 2022/06/06 to 2022/09/30, pay the deposit and choose the color, and deduct 2000 yuan for the final payment.

Personality BUFF interpretation: The cost of choosing a color ranges from 3000 yuan to 6000 yuan, which is equivalent to half price for choosing a color.

Guardian BUFF:

From 2022/06/06 to 2022/09/30, the first non-operational car owner who pays the deposit can enjoy a lifetime warranty for three-electric.

Free-refund BUFF:

From 2022/06/06 to 2022/07/31, pay the deposit, and it can be refunded before July 31.

Love BUFF:

Smart car owners and their direct relatives can get the “Love BUFF Super Package” by making a reservation from June 6, 2022, to September 30, 2022.

Financial Plan

There are two financial plans: equal monthly payments and enjoying first and paying later. The minimum down payment is only more than 20,000 yuan, which provides more financial loan plans for young people who do not have much savings but like exquisite urban cars, reducing a lot of down payment pressure.

ConfigurationAfter the official price was announced, smart 精灵 #1 added a new model, Pure +.

The main difference between the new lowest configuration Pure + and the two original configurations is the weakened intelligent driving assist system, which only retains the cruise control function.

External and interior configurations are similar:

Competitors

I think the direct competitor of smart 精灵 #1 will be the domestically produced pure electric MINI from the Great Wall BMW joint venture, Beam Cars. Currently, the domestically produced pure electric MINI has not yet been launched, and it remains to be seen how it will be priced.

Other small and compact pure electric models include BYD’s early attempts at three-electric technology, such as the Yuan Plus, and the Dolphin, which won the sales champion for pure electric small cars in less than half a year since its launch. There are also the Volkswagen Group’s ID.3 and ID.4, which aim to attract urban white-collar workers, and the Ora brand from Great Wall that combines various “cat” elements, such as the Ora Good Cat GT. For comparison, I have also included the XPeng P5, Tesla Model Y, and GAC AION Y:

Volkswagen’s ID.3 is targeted towards urban youth and has a similar size to smart 精灵 #1. It sells for 165,300 to 179,300 yuan. From the known parameters, smart 精灵 #1 has a 102 horsepower larger electric motor than the mainstream joint venture brand Volkswagen ID.3, and the battery capacity is also nearly 10 kWh larger than the ID.3’s 57.3 kWh, so the smart 精灵 #1 has a 110 km advantage in cruising range. At the same time, the rear wheels of the ID.3 are only equipped with drum brakes.In comparison, the price and configuration of the Smart Elf #1 seem to be quite sincere, which makes it difficult for the Volkswagen ID.3 to compete. However, if we compare the discounted price of the ID.4, it may be more fair. Both the ID.4 and ID.3 use drum brakes instead of disc brakes on the rear wheels, with acceleration of 8.4 seconds per 100 kilometers. Although the ID.3 is lighter, it still takes 7.4 seconds. Therefore, I think the ID.4 is more suitable for consumers who value family and want to travel safely with their loved ones.

After carefully searching for parameters and making tables, I spent more than an hour marking the models with advantages in red font.

As we can see, the Tesla Model Y ranked first in wheelbase, width, and space. Of course, its price of 316,900 yuan is also the highest among all compared models. Last year, its lowest price was 271,500 yuan. I have sufficient reasons to explain why the Model Y can outperform domestic new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles in this price range.

In the first quarter of 2022, Tesla sold a total of 74,600 Model Ys, surpassing the sales of the long-standing fuel vehicle champions such as the Great Wall Haval H6 and BYD Song. The reason for its good sales is nothing more than its price, which is only slightly more expensive than the Model 3 but has larger space suitable for family travel. Therefore, the Model 3 is more cost-effective for individual drivers. However, after the price hike in April 2022, will Chinese consumers still rush to buy the weakened version of the 2022 Model Y with reduced acceleration performance for over 300,000 yuan?

As for the Smart Elf #1, with excellent power, endurance, acceleration performance, and configuration, can it be delivered as planned in the fourth quarter and catch up with the last wave of crazy financing before the new energy vehicle subsidy is reduced?

Similarly, the SEA Haohan platform’s elder brother, the Zeekry 001, has been delivered since the end of October last year for seven months. Even if we exclude the holiday season in February and the low point of production capacity, less than 20,000 units have been delivered. Can Geely’s Xi’an plant withstand the pressure of the pandemic and rising raw material prices to deliver the Smart Elf #1 as soon as possible for consumers who want to buy an “electric and exquisite luxury car”? We can only hold optimistic attitude and wait quietly.

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.