The Smart #1 Brabus was unveiled on the 2022 Chengdu Auto Show in China. The four-wheel drive performance version of the #1 looked the Brabus business; with matte black paint, a red roof, red mirrors, a resigned grille, and a special set of alloy wheels.
During the ceremony Smart harked back to its long history of cooperation with Brabus, starting way back in 2002. However, there isn’t a single Brabus badge or logo or nameplate on the entire exterior of the vehicle. That seems odd for a Brabus edition.
On the front lip we find a ‘Performance’ badge. The grille looks cool, in black with red stripes.
No Brabus badges here either. The thingy on the B-pillar is the styled by Mercedes badge, and the logo on the rear door is another performance badge:
The Smart brand is jointly owned (50-50) by Geely and Daimler, with the Chinese side responsible for the platform and manufacturing, and the German side for design and development. The Smart #1 is based on Geely’s SEA electric vehicle platform.
No Brabus badging at the back either. But the badge on the right is interesting. Characters are 豪情精灵, Háoqíng Jīnglíng. The first part, Háoqíng, is short for Zhejiang Haoqing Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (浙江豪情汽车制造有限公司), the Geely-owned manufacturing company that produces the Smart #1. The second part, Jingling, is the Chinese name of Smart, it means ‘elf’, as in the fairly-tale creatures.
Chinese type plates are always worth inspecting. Top row shows the country of origin (中国, China), and the manufacturer name. The first line shows the brand and the Chinese designation: JL7000BEV07, JL is an abbreviation of Jingling. Next line shows the full designations of the two electric motors: front motor is TZ180XSB01 and the rear motor is TZ220XSA01. The manufacturer of these motors is a Chinese company called Weirui Electric Auto Technology (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. (将搭载由威睿电动汽车技术(宁波)有限公司). On the next line we can see the power output of each motor: 115 kW front and 200 kW rear. Both are permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSM).
While we are at we might as well add the other specs. Combined output is 315 kW (422 hp) and 543 Nm. Top speed is 180 km/h and 0-100 takes 3.66 seconds. The 66 kWh ternary lithium-ion battery pack has an energy density of 184.40 Wh/kg and delivers 500 kilometers of range, using China’s CLTC testing cycle. Power consumption is 14.8 kWh per 100 kilometer. Smart claims a weight distribution of 50:50. Impressive numbers for a compact SUV.
The black gray interior is dressed up with leather and micro-fiber, plus red red stitching on the flat bottom steering wheel, on the seats, and on the dashboard.
And here we finally find the Brabus name, sitting at the bottom of the steering wheel.
And a Brabus logo on the headrest. Red safety belts look racy. The red frames on the side of the headrest hold the speakers.
A special pedal set for the Brabus model.
The Smart #1 Brabus is priced from 279,000 to 285,000 yuan (40,320 – 41.180), with deliveries set to start in Q4.
Pics via: Autohome.
hi why didnt you cover the new gwm cannon pick up truck ???? …………
A very informative article about the Smart jv and Brabus which is not widely known outside Europe and China via Great Wall. Thank you.