Two days ago, Mercedes-Benz held an online new car launch conference, announcing that the electric version of smart officially opened pre-sale. The new car is named Smart Genie #1, and there are two endurance versions of the model, with a pre-sale price range of 190,000 yuan to 230,000 yuan. Smart Genie #1 positions a small SUV from the same vast platform as the Extreme Kr 001, with Mercedes-Benz dominating the exterior design and a maximum cruising range of 560km. The official pricing of the new car will be announced in June, and the first deliveries are expected by the end of this year.
"Smart" hit the trend on the hot search of the day, netizens discussed all aspects of the new car. Among them, there is a more harsh voice: "Brain watts will buy this car." "The main reason why they are indignant is that they believe that smart genie #1 is a branded Mercedes Benz.
Geely acquired half of Smart's stake in 2019, and then quickly established a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz in China to fully start the electrification of the brand. On the surface, the two sides work together to build cars, but in fact, R&D and manufacturing are all led by Geely. The manufacturing platform of smart genie #1 comes from Geely, Mercedes-Benz only dominates the design, of course, the logo is still the smart logo. It is worth mentioning that in order to indicate the Mercedes-Benz identity of the new car, the B-pillar position is also inlaid with a "STYLED BY Benz" tri-fork star nameplate.
The Smart Genie #1 is a branded Mercedes Benz, as if that were the case, but that doesn't mean the car isn't worth mentioning. Whether a car is worth buying depends mainly on whether the product strength meets the needs of the target group.
In the era of fuel vehicles, the smart brand focuses on the positioning of light luxury cars, and is sought after by many young consumers with its unique "small and flexible". After the transformation of electrification, Smart positions the new luxury pure electric vehicle technology brand, and the target group is still young consumers. However, the times are changing, and consumer demand is also changing. According to relevant research reports, Generation Z has become the main consumer group in the automobile market. Environmental awareness, lower purchase and maintenance costs and better product experience are the top three reasons why Z generation likes new energy vehicles.
If you want to please Gen Z, you must do a good job of product experience. According to the survey report, Gen Z pays more attention to the performance of design, intelligence and power.
Smart Genie #1 abandons the original brand design and adopts a more futuristic and technological language. Triangle style headlights, connected to the through-led daytime running lights, with a rectangular arrangement design of the middle mesh, and inverted triangle ventilation opening decoration, the front face presents a good sporty atmosphere. The side lines are relatively simple, with a two-color car paint style, showing a certain sense of fashion. The truncated design of the C-pillar also creates a visual effect of the suspended roof. The tail is designed in a positive trapezoidal shape, and the same through taillights are used, which echo the headlights in shape.
The interior follows the mainstream simple style, with an embedded full LCD dashboard, a centrally controlled suspension touch screen and a retro three-spoke steering wheel, with a round rectangular air conditioning outlet, which well interprets the fashion attributes. In terms of exterior and interior design alone, smart genie #1 caters to the aesthetics of Gen Z. In terms of intelligence, it mainly looks at on-board audio entertainment and assisted driving. Smart Genie #1 is equipped with an intelligent human-computer interaction system called "Smart Universe", which allows drivers and occupants to use language to achieve intelligent and entertainment control.
Smart Genie #1 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 smart chip, relying on Haohan SEA high-performance/ highly integrated computing power architecture, can achieve 23 (including L2+ level) intelligent driver assistance functions, such as intelligent parking assistance, adaptive cruise and pilot assistance. The above are all official profiles, and how intelligent performance is still unknown, so there is no way to determine whether to meet the needs of Generation Z. However, as far as the existing information is concerned, Che Shao would like to say a slot point.
The smart genie #1 starter version is equipped with 5 unknown brand speakers, and the top version is 13 Beats speakers. The entry-level model has 13 assisted driving peripheral hardware, while the top version has 23. The difference in configuration will definitely affect the intelligent experience, in fact, this is not to blame, and opening up the gap can promote the sales of various versions of models. But smart genie #1 is a smart choice for the difference between the two models, in terms of in-car audio entertainment and assisted driving that Gen Z is most concerned about. The brand has not yet opened the market, the entry-level version of the model is often the most expensive, now that the intelligent experience is discounted, can the future still be bright?
Finally, looking at the power system, smart genie #1 uses rear motor + rear-wheel drive, the maximum power can reach 272 horsepower, the peak torque is 343 Nm, the acceleration time of 0-100km/h is 6.7 seconds, and the maximum speed is 180km/h. The new car is equipped with a ternary lithium battery with a capacity of 66 kWh, and the maximum cruising range under CLTC conditions is 560 km. In terms of performance and endurance performance, it belongs to the top level in small SUVs and should be able to meet the needs of The Z generation.
From the above information alone, smart genie #1 is still a strong competitiveness. However, if you want to really stand on the market, the most important thing is to have driving pleasure.
No matter who it is, it will pursue beautiful things, so a car with driving pleasure will obviously have better market prospects. Driving pleasure in the traditional sense mainly refers to power and handling, such as acceleration ability and flexibility in cornering. However, the vast majority of consumers, including the Z generation that chases the trend and loves to toss, actually has a very limited understanding in this regard: the power only knows the parameters, and the acceleration only looks at the time, whether it is good or bad is not accurate. And the control performance such as turning and braking is almost following the feeling.
To let consumers experience the traditional driving pleasure, they can only instill professional car knowledge in them, which is obviously an unlikely operation, and who buys a car must listen to the lesson first. Even if the sales are explained on the spot during the test drive, consumers are mostly in a state of confusion of "only hearing their voices and not seeing their people". To truly let consumers experience the joy of driving, they need to know what they are looking forward to. A survey conducted by the University of Gothenburg shows that the driving pleasures pursued by the vast majority of car owners are not related to power and handling, but to what environment they drive, who they are with, and where they are driven.
It seems a bit bizarre, but it's not hard to understand. You drive a tens of millions of Ferrari LaFerraris, encounter traffic jams on the ring line, grind and rub turtle speed, and occasionally someone plays hooligans and hard to plug the line. Driving in this environment, it is good not to have a road rage outbreak, and talk about what driving fun. You carry friends and family, you walk between mountains and rivers, talking and laughing along the way, and driving any car is pleasant at this time. The driving pleasure that car owners feel depends to some extent on the environment in which they use the car.
The problem is again, manufacturers can not improve the car environment, can not open a special line only let their own cars run. With a high-quality hardware system, the negative impact of the environment can be minimized, thereby improving driving pleasure. For example, provide comfortable seats and reduce road bumps. Another example is to provide intelligent audio and video systems to pass the boring time when traffic jams. In short, if you want to make the owner experience a better driving pleasure, the stronger the high-quality hardware system, the better. This is a systematic project, which tests the comprehensive manufacturing level of manufacturers.
Generation Z's view of the automobile is no longer just a means of transportation, but is further recognized in attributes such as spatial extension and trend highlighting, and also gives more diversified emotional appeals. So smart genie #1 wants to impress Generation Z, it must have enough driving pleasure to make them happy, not to mention that it is a small SUV with discounted practicality. Judging from the current market, Smart Genie #1 has no real competitors, and the prospects are bright.
Of course, if you want to play iron, you have to see if you are hard or not.