The Smartest smart Yet? - smart #1

The smart #1 is the first product from the rejuvenated smart brand after Chinese giant Geely entered into a 50:50 joint venture with previous owners Mercedes-Benz. It's grown up somewhat from the original 2-seat city car concept that the brand was formed on, but even as a compact SUV it still retains much of the family DNA. This little gem offers big car refinement far beyond that of the fortwo, along with a practical and spacious interior and engaging rear-wheel drive electric powertrain. At the right price, it should clean up in Europe.
#smart #geely #hashtagone #chinacar #chinesecars #electriccar #evs #cars #europeanEVs

[@InsideChinaAuto]

*Length is 4270mm, not 4720mm.

[@christophfacius3885]

I just was so like 😳 😅 beautiful car for the city. Great review!

[@InsideChinaAuto]

@christophfacius3885 Cheers Cristophe. I quite like how it looks too.

[@hutchcraftcp]

The subscription for anything is a deal breaker for me. I will not pay for them. If they do not offer it as a one time cost it's useless.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Be sure to tell the dealers of the brands who offer it. The feedback will get back to the brands who will have to change.

[@jwickerszh]

The big smart is the best smart. Very well rounded as well, pun intended.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

It's a cracker. Very impressed by it.

[@loschwahn723]

@@InsideChinaAuto bone smasher

[@randomthingsstuff6591]

Im happy that Smart is making new models and hopefully make a new models of the old smarts like the Roadster and Crossblade

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Yeah. I particularly hope they make a 2-seater again and a low coupe/roadster of some sort.

[@adamhuffey7590]

which model were you testing? Good to see your expat reviews here in China. I'm looking for a an EV car at the moment and have looked at volvo, BYD and Tesla. So far, the Tesla's build quality is so much better here in Guangzhou

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Glad you like them. I honestly can't remember exactly what spec I had for this one, it was almost a year ago now. If you're in China, I mean you've got all the choice in the world and some really good cars too. If you're going Volvo I'd wait for the EX30 just because the infotainment is going to be so much better than the current Volvo screens even if the car is good, but totally depends what you're looking for. I say just go check out as many as you can, though you'll only make your choice harder.

[@schnuppdog7560]

Hi, does the Car come with V2L in china?

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Yes, it does come with V2L here.

[@just4therecord]

In your opinion which interior looks nicer - the gold or the white?

[@InsideChinaAuto]

I haven't seen the gold one in person, I just know you can specify it. Personally I suspect I'd prefer the white which I thought was quite cool, but it'll be personal preference. There may even be another colour available now that's less bold.

[@irekfilms]

If the length of the Smart was 4720mm it would be the size almost of the Tesla model Y (TESLA model Y is 4750mm)😂🤣😂 You obviously got it wrong as the length is only 4270mm(not 4720mm)🤦

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Sorry, that is indeed a typo. Unfortunately KZbin don't let you make edits for that without replacing the whole video. Thank for pointing it out though.

[@irekfilms]

Sorry for a bit sarcastic comment I like the channel 👍

[@InsideChinaAuto]

@irekfilms No worries at all mate, really appreciate your view and thanks for pointing it out as I'd missed it. Going to try and stick a card over it with the right number.

[@no_clot_shot1128]

Does the Chinese social credit system and possible bans transfer to the car through the phone?

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Don't believe all you hear on the Internet.

[@no_clot_shot1128]

@@InsideChinaAuto true, plenty of BS out there these days. Were those people with low social credit score lying about not being able to purchase flight tickets or get around etc though? Never been to China so IDK. Why would they lie? 🤔

[@InsideChinaAuto]

I don't know the people you're talking about but certainly there are plenty of people with an endless axe to grind against China, like Gordon Chang, so at this point I find it hard to trust individual cases because you don't know is being paid to say what.

[@no_clot_shot1128]

@@InsideChinaAuto definitely possible they are paid actors. Western propaganda machine doesn't play fair. As for these electric cars and their future role in the "system", we just need to wait and see I guess. As the solely "ecological reasons" seem ridiculous when process of batteries production and charging on energy produced from "fossil" fuels is taken into account.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

@@no_clot_shot1128 100%. These are still very early days, look how few brands have gone all in on EVs. They need to continue developing the chemistry, the grid, the weight, many things, but competition breeds faster development and it looks like we'll see a lot of that.

[@just4therecord]

4:35 uses snapdragon 8155 like zeeker 01

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Good to know. Thanks for the clarification. It felt quick.

[@Osmosis909]

That. Looks like a mini.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Certainly has a similar profile, though I prefer this to be honest. Quite elegant in a simple way.

[@Osmosis909]

@@InsideChinaAuto I’m not so convinced with the exterior styling but the fit and finish + tech looks really good

[@InsideChinaAuto]

@Osmosis909 I think the styling can definitely divide people if you like more definition and edginess, but those guys can buy a Zeekr X I guess. It's funky inside with cool details, though the gloss plastic feels a bit tinny as most gloss plastics do.

[@armanddesarrierespays719]

I liked it too but completely lost interest when I found it costs over CHF 40k with a few options.... just too expensive for a small car, there are cheaper options in Europe in that size category for sure. Doesn't even have the Benz emblem to justify the higher price. I know it's a different category but a standard Model 3 costs 44k pretty much within 2k of the smart price but more range, space etc.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Sounds like it's pretty expensive in Europe. I think we're lucky here since it's built in China so it's nothing like that amount here.

[@MaticTheProto]

What? It literally comes fully equipped for that price, way higher quality and more features than the tesla

[@loschwahn723]

cooper / daimler corpotate ? great front - the surgens will got many work to replace the hips

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Yeah, combo of Mercedes design and Geely production and chassis. Good package overall.

[@loicndame5678]

@Inside China Auto. We should absolutely not encourage these manufacturers and that subscriber model bullshit. If anything, you, with a platform should shame them and not be ambiguous about it

[@InsideChinaAuto]

My main concern about subscription features is whether the car maker has passed on the saving of the item being 'removed' on to the customer. I worked at a car brand that was looking at this idea back in 2015 and the theory was that it would be cheaper to make all cars fully kitted out with only paint/interior variations, because it's less time wasted on the production line, and they genuinely believed it would save more than the items cost themselves. The question is whether you trust them to pass the saving on to the customer. With car prices generally rising though, it's hard to gauge whether they have or not. That's why I'm ambiguous on the answer, I'm not 100% certain on it yet, even if I'm generally against the concept. But I have heating in my house all year, I just pay for it in winter when I need it, so is it much different?

[@loicndame5678]

@@InsideChinaAuto Capitalism: if we let them know that practice is acceptable they will abuse it. and let's face it even in the example of the house warming unless you are renting the boiler it will not make sense. the coils for the heating are already in the car thus that cost is already in the car manufacturing process so I am more inclined to believe they will be charging us twice for the feature

[@InsideChinaAuto]

@loicndame5678 What I'm saying is, you get the boiler and the radiators with the house, but you only use them and pay for the heating when you need it. For 6 months of the year the heating generally goes unused, so effectively you could argue it's the same concept. As for the production, their argument is that the parts are cheap, and by making every car the same this reduces production costs by not building to order (no idea how that works but when it was explained to me I was in the company and they had no reason to sales pitch me), but I'm with you, there's not a cat in hell's chance they're going to pass that saving onto consumers.

[@Steve-Cross]

I don’t understand why manufactures fit equipment, that can only be used via subscription. It is already fitted. Why do they not just include it in the price? If you don’t subscribe and therefore don’t use it, they have wasted money fitting it in the first place. That is absolutely ridiculous. I can understand why you would need to subscribe to something like, in car Wi-Fi, but not equipment fitted already.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

I think there's 2 reasons. 1. The manufacturers claim (Mercedes did when I worked there) that fitting all the items on a car is cheaper than having every car be fitted with different equipment, based on time lost and economies of scale I guess. That cost saving should be passed on to the consumer but you can bet your life it isn't. 2. The second reason, which I believe is the real reason, is that EVs require less maintenance, which means less cars going to the dealer and therefore less contact and less chance to make money from them, so this is a way to keep the customer in contact somehow and buying added value services.

[@Steve-Cross]

@@InsideChinaAuto That is all very plausible. But I’m sure Customer still feel they are being cheated and exploited. I have just bought a Nissan Qashqai, which has heated seats and steering wheel and also massaging seats. I bought those in the price of the car. I would be very disappointed if I had to pay a monthly subscription to have those features. It’s like buying part of your car on credit, which I am sure over the lifetime of the car, would end up costing a lot more.

[@InsideChinaAuto]

@stevecross5444 Indeed. It's a bit like having radiators in your house though. You pay for them at the start but only use and pay for the heating when you need it, that's the only defence I have for it.

[@Steve-Cross]

@@InsideChinaAuto Of course, you would have to pay for the energy to heat the radiators. Like you have to pay for fuel or electricity to run your car. It would be analogous, to say you have to rent your radiators, that have already been installed in the house that you have bought or are renting already, as well as paying for the power to heat them. There really is no defence for what smart are doing to their customers.

[@firstprototype]

It's sad how ugly it is (if was ugly because was "fuel" efficient or safest car in her class I didn't mind ) I suppose we heave different taste 😏 First series was cool mk1 & LCI than cross blade , spyker & coupe 😊

[@InsideChinaAuto]

I love the original, and the Crossblade was awesome. The newer one was OK but quite a bit bigger, and this is much bigger. I think it's at least unique, though I'm not a massive fan of Gordon Wagoner's latest stuff for Benz. Very bloaty and swollen.

[@valerio883]

Smart #1Production 2022-present Assembly China: Xi'an, Shaanxi Designer Yi Gao and Mohammad Aminiyekta (concept) Body and chassis ..........you pay 40k euro for a car that in China is sold for 21k euro! very SMART XD

[@InsideChinaAuto]

That's down to tariffs. When it was the other way round, made in Europe being sold in China, it cost twice as much here.

[@ChristopherOvrebo]

Looks like an amalgamation of a bunch of other cars. Equals boring and no identity

[@InsideChinaAuto]

Not sure I agree but at least you didn't say it looks like a Tesla, which is what basically every other car gets accused of.

[@valerio883]

@@InsideChinaAuto well...the back looks like a mercedes EQE....the funny part is that is sold for 21k euro in China ( I live in China ) but in Europe starts at 40k....I guess the value is really 21k...

[@MaticTheProto]

I disagree