Buy a Mercedes-Benz Figure? Smart Genie #1: My ambitions are bigger than my body

Some people are thirty and standing, some people are only thirty, but smart is nearly thirty years old and has just "grown up".

It is said that growing up is also a new life. In 1994, the smart brand was born in the common arms of Swatch and Mercedes-Benz, and then the family changed, leaving only Mercedes to raise it alone, and it was taken care of for more than twenty years, but the life was always miserable.

After Geely invested in Daimler in 2018, in 2019, it "led" 50% of the shares of the Smart brand, and the two jointly established a new global joint venture, relying on the Chinese market, pooling global resources, and focusing on the new energy field.

So in 2022, we saw this "grown-up" smart genie #1.

Before Geely intervened, Smart was only a single model brand, and in the past three decades, there was only one smart car, with a total of 3 generations of models and 3 car series, fortwo, forfour and roadster.

However, over time, only fortwo is regarded as a classic, because it is the smallest size and the most representative of the smart spirit. At the beginning of the brand's establishment, its goal was to create a delicate car to meet people's urban transportation needs.

Just a "small" word is the essence of smart. So in terms of size, smart genie #1 has really grown up, completely out of the role setting of the previous model.

Its length, width and height are 4270/1822/1636mm, and the wheelbase is 2750mm, which is even longer than the smart fortwo. Based on this, the smart genie #1 also transformed into a small SUV.

At the beginning, the new brand brings together the superior resources of both sides of the joint venture. So, the car's styling is still handled by the Mercedes-Benz global design team, and although it has grown larger, it is still exquisite.

Exquisite logo, exquisite light set, exquisite cockpit...

Seeing it, you will unconsciously marvel at Mercedes-Benz's excellent design skills. Perhaps for the sake of fame, Smart Genie #1 also created a nameplate at the B-pillar position, which reads "STYLED BY Benz".

This is probably a small change after Geely invested in Smart. It really understands the needs of Chinese consumers, so that everyone can get the Mercedes-Benz brand and cultural recognition by avoiding having to do it themselves.

However, more changes brought by Geely are in research and development and production. Based on the SEA haohan architecture, smart genie #1 has a maximum cruising range of 560km, 200kW drive motor, Snapdragon 8155 intelligent chip, L2+ level assisted driving, HUD head-up display, Beats audio, intelligent fragrance...

Officials say smart has always shouldered the vision of "exploring the best solutions for urban transportation in the future".

In the past, absolute small is its solution, but also its most distinctive features; but now and even in the future, relatively small, pure electric drive, exquisite design, good configuration, etc., has become smart to solve the new solution of urban transportation.

Therefore, the official has given smart genie #1 a new product definition - tomorrow's urban close friends, to make smart become people's intimate partners, always accompany around.

Smart has indeed grown, but it should grow up too. It's just that in addition to the big, the name of smart genie #1 is also a bit awkward, and the English should be pronounced "smart hashtag one", Chinese should be read as "smart genie 1".

Exquisite city cars, the concept is good, but smart is not profitable, according to the United States Leutz Bank statistics, the brand in the past three decades cumulative loss of about 4 billion euros. Selling a car at a loss, Mercedes-Benz's persistence is really valuable.

Geely can take over such a "mess", certainly not out of sympathy or pity, it wants the brand value accumulated by smart, but also values the economic value behind it.

Therefore, after the joint venture, Smart transformed into a pure electric brand, from a single model brand to a multi-matrix model brand, focusing on the two major markets in China and Europe, and expanding the margin of enterprise development.

"Smart has grown up, and tomorrow's journey is the sea of stars." At the smart genie #1 Asia launch conference, Mr. Tong Xiangbei, CEO of the brand's global company, said so.

But how easy is it to make money? Smart Genie #1 does not include optional, subsidies after the pre-sale price range of 190,000-230,000 yuan, which dissuaded many potential consumers. In their eyes, this car has no value for money.

But for such a brand, it is so unusual. Because this car has never been cost-effective, a "simple" mini car can be sold for more than 100,000 yuan next to the Mercedes-Benz store.

Although it is a loss of money, since its birth, smart has sold more than 2 million units worldwide and gained more than 150,000 users in the Chinese market. The people who buy it never care about the so-called value for money, not to mention, the "grown up" smart genie #1 will be suitable for more people.

High premium capability, this is the brand value that Smart has. Even if it transforms into a pure electric brand, even if it changes its partners, even if it no longer enjoys mercedes-Benz sales channels, people are always willing to call it Mercedes-Benz smart, not Geely smart.

But even so, Smart will never rely on Geely's sales channels.

It is gradually building a D2C direct sales agency business model, in addition to the online official Mini Program, website, APP and offline direct sales store, Smart will also work with a number of partners to build a sales network. Including LSH Auto, Yongda Group, C&D Group, Jitianxia Holdings, etc., are all partners of the Mercedes-Benz brand, the luxurious atmosphere will not be bad, and it will probably not be far from the original Mercedes-Benz store. This is true in China, and it is also true in Europe.

So who would choose smart genie #1? Relatively not bad money, but feel that Tesla is expensive and "rotten street", and at the same time feel that BYD is not enough tone, is the brand's target user group.

At the end of the day, it's still a "big toy" rather than a car.

In this regard, smart genie #1 has not changed much except to become larger. As for how much can it sell in the end? It depends on how many fans it has. According to official sources, the car has exceeded 10,000 orders within 24 hours of opening pre-sale.

For now, the results are not bad. But even if the sales are really poor in the end, they will not be defeated. After all, smart has not only become larger in size, but also in size. This year is smart genie #1, and there may be sprite #2, sprite #3...

So what is more confusing is that the size of smart spii #2 and sprite #3 will be larger? Or is it smaller?