*This article is reproduced from the Autocarweekly WeChat account.
Author: Hu Laquan
Old boat tickets cannot board the new cruise ship, and yesterday’s old thinking cannot shape tomorrow’s travel life.
We are in a special era, a changing world, and the long unchanged transportation environment is being broken and reshaped. The long-stagnant travel innovation is once again in the spotlight. The just-concluded 2021 Munich International Auto Show has the theme of “sustainable development and urban transportation”.
Although these two words are concise and seem to be taken for granted, they also hit the core strategic goal of global innovative travel companies: new traffic energy sources and new focuses on urban commuting.
The exploration of the “perfect urban car” in the automotive industry has been around for decades. At the beginning of the birth of the automobile more than a century ago, people were more concerned about its reliability and applicability as a long-distance travel tool. Today, with urbanization and the popularity of cars, the experience of cars as a commuting tool in cities has become more important.
Therefore, major car companies have never interrupted their research and discussions on “city cars”. Almost every year, you can see concept cars exploring the “best commuting tool”. This “tool” is no longer limited to four-wheeled cars. Three-wheeled, two-wheeled, and even personalized transportation vehicles have been carefully considered.
However, in the end, what has really moved from concept to reality, what has been rational recognized by people, and what has been able to be put on the market is still a simple principle:
Using the smallest possible car to provide maximum interior space.
More than twenty years ago, the smart brand was born with this concept.
In addition to the familiar two-seater car fortwo, smart actually launched the first-generation forfour model in 2004. In order to provide comfortable space for four people with the smallest size, the first-generation forfour had a length of 3.75 meters and a wheelbase of 2.5 meters. The wheelbase/length ratio reached an amazing 66%. The four wheels were pushed to the four corners of the car body to allow the interior space to far exceed people’s psychological knowledge of such a small car.
Entering the era of electric vehicles, smart has been repositioned as a light luxury, intelligent, and pure electric car technology brand, entering a new historical stage. Pure electric vehicles have a natural talent for “space magic”. They no longer need to worry about the huge volume of internal combustion engines or the layout of exhaust pipes. The small size and high flexibility of electric vehicles allow the front and rear axle to be even more free “away” from each other.The EVA vehicle platform developed specifically for pure electric vehicles by Mercedes-Benz has allowed the new EQE, which was also unveiled at this year’s IAA auto show, to reach 3120mm in wheelbase on the basis of a 4946mm car length, fully demonstrating the advantages of pure electric vehicles in maximizing space.
Meanwhile, the new smart concept car, the smart EQ concept #1, marks the brand’s entry into a new era and once again showcases “space magic” with the help of electrification.
With a total length of 4.29 meters, the smart EQ concept #1 becomes the largest smart car ever created, while also maintaining its compact SUV shape. Its wheelbase measures up to 2.75 meters, surpassing people’s expectations.
In fact, even compared to the longer Audi Q3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLA, the wheelbase of the smart EQ concept #1 is a few centimeters longer, making the interior space larger as well. From the age of fuel to the future of electrification, “space magic” has always been smart’s signature skill in urban commuting.
But being “larger” alone is not enough to say that smart is entering a new era. Since its inception in 1994, the smart vision has been to provide the best urban transportation solutions and lead the urban trend as a fashionable means of travel —— just as “art” in its name represents art. Twenty years later, smart is back on the road with pure electric power, a larger size, and a focus on on-trend technology for urban people.
In their view, smart has always considered intelligent technology as part of the trend, just as technology and humanities are inherently intertwined. Therefore, smart positions itself as a light luxury, intelligent pure electric vehicle technology brand.
Their mission of creating exquisite vehicles has not changed. The new smart EQ concept #1 is a high-quality, refined compact SUV designed for young urban customers. At the same time, smart does not see itself as too high and mighty, positioning itself as light luxury rather than indulgence. With a unique way of travel as the medium, smart hopes to integrate into users’ lives and create a seamless urban living space.In terms of design, the concept car of Smart Elf #1 inherits the concept of “sensitivity and purity” of Mercedes-Benz, and follows the brand-new design philosophy of “sensitivity and agility” of the Smart brand.
The concept car of Smart Elf #1 has changed the single image of smart which was once cute and silly. It is not limited by people’s existing cognition of Smart, but shapes a flexible, intelligent and light luxury new look with sharp and playful front and rear light group shapes and lively floating roof.
The interior design of the concept car of Smart Elf #1 well interprets the brand-new image of Smart’s light luxury intelligence.
The large area of golden highlights decoration highlights the character color of gorgeous and showy. The everywhere dark blue ambient lighting highlights the sense of the future and brings rational balance. The overall tone of the entire cabin is future intelligence, and the overall layout is practical and intimate without losing the high-street light luxury tone of Smart.
With the help of high-performance and high-integration computing architecture, the brand-new Smart Elf #1 can centrally control the four core modules of the information entertainment system, driving assistance system, electric drive control system, and electronic/electrical system. Pure electric power and fast charging technology make green travel a reachable new way of life for users.
Based on cloud OTA vehicle updates, intelligent keys, and voice control, even ordinary daily commuting will not remain the same, always having evolving fresh experiences.
In a rapidly changing world, perhaps remaining unchanged is truly crazy. Today, you and I don’t need to repeat yesterday’s stories.
Smart is no longer the young and shy Smart it used to be, but Smart has always been a partner for the times that closely follows the needs of urban people, thinks what they think, and supplies what they need. Such a “new Smart” will undoubtedly have great market prospects in the future.
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.