‘Smart’ move by Cycle & Carriage puts German-Chinese collaboration in the spotlight

CYCLE & Carriage (C&C) on Thursday (Mar 28) unveiled a pair of electric cars, one of which observers said could even give a Ferrari a run for its money.

The Mercedes-Benz dealership held a signing ceremony with Smart Automobile to formalise its relationship with the Singapore-headquartered carmaker, after announcing in January that it had clinched the brand.

C&C also showed the Smart #1 (pronounced “hashtag 1”) car to the local media, with plans for a public launch on Apr 22.

C&C will put two versions of the compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) on the market, in the form of the #1 Pro+ and the high-performance #1 Brabus.

The company declined to quote prices, but The Business Times estimates that the #1 Pro+ could start at around S$210,000 with Certificate of Entitlement (COE), with the Brabus version priced around S$280,000 including COE.

That would make them some of the speediest cars available at this price point. The Pro+ has a 272 horsepower (hp) motor driving its rear wheels, and hits 100 kmh in a brisk 6.7 seconds. Smart claims that a full charge from its 66 kilowatt-hour battery is good for 420 km.

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The #1 Brabus – named after the German tuning company that tweaked its brakes and suspension – has a second motor for the front wheels, for a total of 428 hp. That slingshots it to 100 kmh in just 3.9 seconds, quick enough to leave some Ferrari drivers behind. With the same battery pack, its claimed range is 400 km.

The #1 Pro+ is 14 cm shorter than the Mercedes GLA-Class, the German marque’s smallest SUV, but offers more cabin space, thanks to its electric car architecture. A C&C representative said that the #1 has as much room in the back as a Mercedes E-Class.

The company also plans to import the Smart #3, a more sporty model with coupe-like styling.

Wilfrid Foo, the managing director for direct motor interests at C&C Singapore, told BT that he went after Smart at last year’s Shanghai motor show.

“It’s funny, I was there with other brands but when I saw this one, it was special. I thought, ‘This brand, I’ve got to have it’,” he said.

He added that he was “enthralled” by the car’s styling and the quality of its interior.

Smart is a German-Chinese 50-50 joint venture (JV) between Mercedes and Geely, the Chinese company whose sprawling portfolio includes Polestar, Volvo and Zeekr, another nameplate that is set for launch in Singapore later this year.

Mercedes lends the brand design flair – its chief design officer Gorden Wagener is also responsible for Smart’s styling – while Geely provides the engineering muscle.

The Smart #1’s major hardware also forms the basis for cars made by Polestar, Volvo and so on, but Smart Automobile’s chief marketing officer Mandy Zhang told BT that the brand’s German connection makes it stand out.

“Yes, we do share the same architecture (with Geely) which is very reliable, but we have our design purely done by Mercedes’ design team,” she said. “We also have Brabus, a dedicated trim line, to lift the image of Smart.” 

Smart has its roots in a micro car for city dwellers, dreamt up 30 years ago by Nicolas Hayek, the late CEO of Swatch Group.

He partnered Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler to develop a two-seater meant to be as fashionable as the shiny, plastic Swatch timepieces that revived the Swiss watch industry; the “Smart” name is a combination of “Swatch”, “Mercedes” and “art”.

Mercedes got into bed with Geely in 2019 to relaunch the brand as an electric car-only label.

“It has a differentiation in blending the best of both worlds – Mercedes-Benz design philosophy and expertise but also Chinese engineering and manufacturing,” Foo said. “I think it’s a very good combination.”