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190,000-230,000, the first model of the restructured Smart brand - Genie #1, has officially opened pre-sale.
What kind of model is genie #1? Is the price of 190,000-230,000 expensive? What kind of competitors does it have, and what kind of people are it suitable for? No nonsense, let's get straight to the point.
Mercedes-Benz design, Geely development
The smart brand was born in 1994 by Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler and Swiss watch brand Swatch. Later, in 1998, Mercedes-Benz implemented a full shareholding in the Smart brand.
Smart's most classic model is the two-door two-seat mini car we are familiar with, the Fortwo, which adopts the rear-mounted and rear-drive architecture of the engine. Two three-cylinder engines of 0.9T and 1.0L are available, and the matching is the AMT semi-automatic transmission, which is known for its setbacks.
In addition to Fortwo and Forfour, Smart has also launched a two-door trot called Smart Roadster, though
It was discontinued in 2005, two years after its listing.
In 2019, the smart brand discontinued all fuel vehicles, and the EQ Forfour, which was launched in 2018, was also discontinued last year. The above is the basic overview of the smart brand in the fuel era.
Today's smart is actually operated by a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely. The two signed a cooperation agreement in early 2019, and the reason for this "marriage" is because in the earlier 2018, Geely became Daimler's largest shareholder with about $9 billion in funds, with a share ratio of nearly 10%.
In the smart brand, Geely and Mercedes-Benz each hold 50% of the share ratio, and the two have basically equal discourse. In the high-level structure of the joint venture, the global CEO and vice president of research and development are executives from Geely. The vice president of finance and vice president of sales are appointed by Mercedes-Benz. And Zhang Mingxia, the newly appointed vice president of smart brand sales, is also a Chinese who has been involved in Mercedes-Benz's business in China for many years.
That is to say, Geely's overall voice in the smart brand is not weaker than Mercedes-Benz. Moreover, the division of labor between the two companies is also very clear: Mercedes-Benz leads the design, and Geely leads the engineering development. Smart brand transformation focuses on pure electric vehicles, and the architecture and core powertrain adopted are provided by Geely.
Smart Genie #1
What kind of car is it?
Smart Genie #1 is jointly developed by Geely and Mercedes-Benz, in which the design of the exterior and interior is responsible for Mercedes-Benz, while Geely provides SEA Haohan pure electric architecture and overall engineering research and development.
In other words, the problem of whether genie #1 is good or not is responsible for Mercedes-Benz, and whether it is good or not is responsible for Geely, which is its basic background.
Exterior & Interior
Similar to the previous fuel vehicles of the Smart brand, Genie #1 still adopts a rounded, Q cute style, but the overall size positioning and design elements can hardly see the shadow of the old Smart brand.
The through-line headlights and taillights echo back and forth, and the door handles feature an electrically concealed interior that creates a suspended roof through a two-tone bodywork. These elements are not unusual in the current field of electric vehicles, but considering its price of about 200,000 yuan, smart genie #1 adopts a bezel-less door design, which can be regarded as a highlight of the same price.
As for the interior, smart genie #1 as a whole is also a rounded style corresponding to the appearance. Similar to the air conditioner outlet, the edge of the central control screen, the door handle, the armrest, the steering wheel multi-function button and the saddle area below, it is a rounded style, which makes it have a strong sense of home warmth.
The floating central control screen is moderately sized, while the full LCD instrument screen has a very flat design. The high-end model is used with a HUD head-up display, but the low-end version only has an LCD meter.
This car as a whole has a more prominent sense of refinement and high-grade, and Mercedes-Benz's skills in design are more fully reflected. In terms of details, this car also has a lot of details that are worth playing with.
For example, the hidden door handles are designed with a color-block design, with the brand name of smart printed on the upper edge and the ceremonial lighting below.
The large logo on the C-pillar will light up while charging.
The car has a large area of soft leather wrapping and extends to the position where the legs of the main and co-pilot passengers will touch.
The light and elegant atmosphere light strips in the car are everywhere, and even the horn cover of the car audio has the effect of lighting up.
Of course, the specific texture still has to wait for the real car to be fully experienced, but from the effect reflected in the picture alone, smart genie #1 is indeed worthy of the positioning of high-end brands.
Size & space
The Smart Genie #1 has a body length of 4270mm, which is nearly 60mm shorter than the small SUV Honda Binzhi. But its wheelbase reached 2750mm, nearly 90mm more than the Honda CR-V. That is to say, smart genie #1 is a typical short body, long wheelbase model, which is also a major feature of many models based on pure electric platforms.
There is no doubt that the Smart Genie #1 is a small SUV, but as you can see from the table above, the wheelbase of the Smart Genie #1 exceeds the BYD MetaPLUS that positions the compact SUV. Compared with the Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ, which is nearly 4.6 meters in size, the wheelbase is only 15 mm less.
It can be seen that even in a pure electric SUV, the "short body, long wheelbase" feature of smart genie #1 is also very obvious, and the difference in side attitude brought about by this proportion can also be felt from the picture:
Smart Genie #1
Honda Binzhi
BYD Dollar PLUS
Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ
The advantage of this proportion of smart genie #1 is that it is possible to create a very considerable seating space in a smaller body size. In fact, when the car was released overseas, the official announced that its rear space reached the level of the standard axle Mercedes-Benz E-Class. According to the actual experience of some media, this description is not exaggerated.
Smart Genie #1
Honda Binzhi
BYD Dollar PLUS
Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ
As you can see from the picture above, the back space of smart genie #1 is indeed no less than the size of the SUV that is larger than itself. In addition, it should be noted that although the body is relatively short, the height of smart genie #1 reaches 1636mm, which is higher than both meta PLUS and ID.4 CROZZ, which means that the head space of smart sprite #1 will also be very good.
Of course, the smart genie #1 is a small SUV after all, and after the ride space is fully utilized, the storage space in the trunk is bound to be affected, and it is indeed the case. Even in small SUVs, the smart Genie #1's trunk space isn't outstanding, which limits its storage capacity when it's fully loaded.
However, in the case of non-full capacity, the rear seats can still be receded to create a considerable storage space.
In addition, the rear seats of smart genie #1 support front and rear position adjustments up to 130mm, which is obviously designed to make up for the flexible adjustment mode of the trunk space. Considering that the seating space is sufficiently spacious, if necessary, it is also appropriate to sacrifice a part of the seating space in exchange for greater storage capacity.
The smart genie #1 rear seat can be moved by 130mm
Overall, the Smart Genie #1 is a small, uncompromising electric SUV that will be very flexible and lightweight for getting through the city and daily mobility. But its ride space has reached the level of compact or even medium-sized cars, but the storage capacity is relatively limited.
Therefore, if it is usually used frequently in urban areas or short-distance scenarios, this small SUV can also take on the task of no less than a conventional SUV such as the Honda CR-V.
Power & endurance
The battery capacity of smart genie #1 is only a 66kWh version, but the range of high and low is different. Among them, the entry-level version has a cruising range of 535 kilometers under CLTC conditions, while the high-end version is equipped with heat pump air conditioning, and the mileage is 25 kilometers more, reaching 560 kilometers.
Considering the relatively large "moisture" of CLTC, the endurance of smart genie #1 is definitely not outstanding at the moment. However, considering its size and positioning of urban transportation, compared with the direct or indirect opponents of the same price or level, this endurance level is already relatively excellent:
As shown in the table above, the Endurance of the Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ rear-drive version of the NEDC is only 550 kilometers. The range under the BYD Plus CLTC condition is only 510 kilometers, and the low-endurance version is only 430 kilometers.
As for the Honda e:NS1 that has just been launched, the high and low endurance versions are only 510 kilometers and 420 kilometers, respectively. Even the version that exceeds 200,000 yuan does not have a longer battery life than the smart genie #1 starter version.
In terms of power performance, the 0-100km/h speed of smart genie #1 only takes 6.7 seconds, which has certain advantages over models such as meta PLUS, e:NS1 and ID.4 CROZZ two-wheel drive version. Even compared with the tesla model 3's single-motor rear-drive version, it is also in the 6-second range.
Features & Configuration
Smart Genie #1 has only released two configuration versions so far, with a pre-price of 190,000 and 230,000 respectively, and the price span is quite large. They are very close in terms of power performance and endurance, so the price is mainly reflected in the functional configuration and materials.
Specific differences include an inductive trunk, a HUD head-up display, wireless phone charging, heating of the front seats, a 13-speaker Beats car audio, matrix headlights, rear privacy glass, and interior fragrance.
At the level of advanced driver assistance, the low-end version already supports L2-level driving assistance, but the number of cameras and radars is smaller, and the functions that can be achieved are simpler than those of the high-end version. Higher-level auxiliary functions such as automatic lane change, door opening warning, blind spot monitoring, and remote parking cannot be realized.
In addition, the steering wheel and seats of the low-end version are made of artificial leather, and the high-end version is covered with real leather. Other differences include the illuminated logo of the steering wheel, the illuminated metal welcome pedal, and other designs that show a sense of atmosphere and ceremony.
As for the horizontal comparison with competitors, smart genie #1 does not fully correspond to the price, size, brand of direct competitors. But put on the market, smart genie #1 pre-sale 190,000 entry-level version, the functional configuration is already rich enough, there is no obvious configuration shortcomings.
The price threshold of various functions is generally lower than that of the id.4 CROZZ of the same endurance version, and compared with the Honda e:NS1 at the same price, the comfortable and convenient configuration has a crushing advantage.
The price of the BYD Yuan PLUS is much lower, but even if it comes to the top of 165,800, compared with the starter version of Smart Genie #1, it also lacks frameless doors, active grille, waist support adjustment, power seat memory and other functions. If the configuration is fully aligned, the price difference between smart genie #1 and meta PLUS will be further reduced.
The Tesla Model 3 is a mid-size sedan that wasn't originally a competitor to smart genie #1, but the two cars still have a very important attribute, which is a high-end brand entry-level electric vehicle suitable for urban transportation.
Putting aside the controversy over whether Tesla is a luxury brand, consumers who have certain requirements for the brand before, when considering pure electric vehicle models, there is almost only Tesla, a pure electric brand, to choose from within 300,000 yuan. The appearance of smart genie #1 with a Mercedes-Benz background now gives these consumers a new choice, and in addition to its price being much lower than the Model 3, it also brings a sense of luxury and sophistication that Tesla does not have.
On the whole, whether it is compared with independent brands such as BYD, joint venture brands such as Volkswagen and Honda, or high-end pure electric brands such as Tesla, the brand, design, materials and functional configuration of Smart Genie #1 are still relatively reasonable. Behind this, Geely undoubtedly played a very important role.
Is smart genie #1 worth buying?
Who is it for?
There is no doubt that if you just want to buy an electric car for daily transportation, there are still many options on the market that are much cheaper than Smart Genie #1. And many of them have excellent design, space, texture and configuration.
However, if you have a higher pursuit of the quality of the whole vehicle, and you are very concerned about the brand, smart genie #1 is almost the only choice at the current price of 200,000 yuan. For such potential customers, smart genie #1's product strength and cost performance are excellent.
In addition, smart genie #1 also has a very prominent advantage, that is, the combination of a small body and a spacious space. Most of the previous models can only achieve one of these points. Like to drive a car, but also hope that the family can sit comfortably, whether it is male or female, smart genie #1 is also more suitable.
Of course, the car's endurance of more than 500 kilometers is not generous for long-distance travel. At present, it has not built an exclusive charging pile or charging station comparable to Tesla and Weilai. Therefore, if there is a strong demand for long-distance travel, then whether it is smart genie #1 or other pure electric vehicles that do not have a range of more than 600 kilometers, we must be cautious.
As for how to choose between the two configurations, the differences between them have been listed in detail above. In short, if the budget is limited, the 190,000 version is comprehensive enough in every way to fully meet the demand. If the budget is sufficient, directly choose the version of 230,000, you can also get a significant experience improvement. Therefore, abundance and frugality are up to people, and everyone can choose according to the budget.
Finally, what do you think of the smart genie #1 electric car? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.