At the Munich Motor Show, Smart is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the European premiere of #3. To talk about it, we met Cyril Bravard, boss of the French division.
Smart is in the midst of a renaissance. Now the brand is a joint venture with Mercedes and China’s Geely. 100% electric, as it has already been for several years, it is setting out to conquer a new audience with SUVs, including #3, presented as its European premiere at the Munich Motor Show. To talk about this new model and the reinvented brand, Automobile-Propre met Cyril Bravard, who took the helm of the new French subsidiary of Smart, distinct from that of Mercedes.
Smart celebrates its 25th anniversary at the Munich Motor Show. So the counter was not reset to zero with the creation of the Mercedes/Geely joint venture?
We don’t reset the counters, because we don’t want to ignore the heritage. The Smart brand exists thanks to the last 25 years, we want to capitalize on it. It’s a pivotal moment in these 25 years, both we are aware of the past, and at the same time we also want to mark the future with the renewal of the brand and the arrival of the #1 in 2023 and the # 3 in 2024.
What is Smart’s nationality now? For you, does this still remain German?
Smart is a European brand, that’s where it was born, and that’s still where it is designed. In the Mercedes/Geely joint venture, which is 50/50, Mercedes does the interior and exterior design of the car. The car was born on the drawing boards in Europe, notably with a competition between the design center based in Germany and that based in France (near Nice). The car created in Europe is then manufactured in China, this is Geely’s part.
You are presenting here in Munich #3, a second SUV after #1. What else does it bring? Can these models hinder each other?
I don’t think so at all. As much as the #1 is an urban compact SUV, the #3 is really a coupe SUV, much longer (4.40 meters compared to 4.27 m), lower, wider. There is an obvious family resemblance, but #3 is clearly not the coupe of #1. The #3 gains interior space, since the wheelbase is a little larger too, it gains 50 liters in the trunk (370 liters).
Read also
IAA Munich 2023 – Smart #3: the electric SUV coupe arrives in Europe
Is it Smart’s vocation to offer such large models? We are very far from the Fortwo, what remains of the Smart spirit?
First of all, we shouldn’t talk about the Fortwo in the past tense, it is still there, marketed at least until 2024, the Fortwo has its place in the family photo! Obviously, for 25 years the Fortwo was the iconic model, Smart was reduced to that model. But I like to remember that Smart is a brand, the Fortwo is a model. #1 is another, #3 a third. All this creates a family, the common thread is to keep the DNA of the brand in all these models. The DNA is the very urban side, it remains above all vehicles that are compact, it is also the differentiating design, the fun and connected side. It was important to give the brand a future and create models that are in larger segments.
But is this the end of smart city cars?
This is not the end of the city car, no. It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that we went from #1 to #3. #2 was put aside for good reason, if we want to give a successor to the Fortwo.
Where is the launch of #1 in France?
#1 was launched in June in France, we made the first customer deliveries in July. So this is a big moment for the network. Even if we are in a direct sales model (via the website), we rely on a strong network, it’s the best of both worlds. We have 47 agents, who are there to help the customer make their choice, test drive the car, deliver and provide after-sales service. For digital sales, it’s a little early to draw conclusions, especially since the first buyers were often people committed to the Smart brand.
“We will launch two other models over the next two years”
Do you have customers who are able to upgrade from the Fortwo to the #1?
That’s not how you should see it, but there are customers who drove a Fortwo a lot and loved the brand. They had to abandon the Fortwo, because for example they had children, and are very happy today that the brand is coming with an SUV and to be able to become a Smart customer again.
What are the brand’s objectives in France?
To give an idea, Smart, in its greatest years, reached a volume of 10,000 cars on the French market, my ambition is that we return to these levels within two or three years. It will also depend on the models that we are going to launch. After #1 and #3, we will launch two other models over the next two years.
How is Smart positioned on the electric market? What is its competition: the generalist, the premium?
It’s complicated to say! In the electric car segment, where the offer, even if it is more and more numerous, is more limited than in the thermal sector, I think that the electric vehicle customer is not going to be confined to two brands, for example premium, it will be wider. He will look at general vehicles, others premium, other intermediates. Our competitors are therefore numerous. After us clearly, we are positioned on premium, but our customers when they make their purchase, will also consider general brands.
#1 and #3 are made in China. Will they lose their bonus? Is this a risk for sales?
Of course it’s a risk. I don’t know yet if they will lose their bonus. We received the decree this summer, we are working on it, you have not escaped that it was not simple! This may impact us.
rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
