Designing for a smarter future

Smart is back and while it’s still part-owned by Mercedes-Benz, it’s now underpinned by the Chinese automotive giant, Geely as it embarks on a new chapter as a joint venture between the two companies. In 2019 it became the first established OEM to go all-electric and will continue to make the electric ForTwo that started it all for the brand, but there’s a new Smart in town and it’s wearing a hashtag.

The Smart #1 is the first model to come from the re-launch and it’s bigger and, if you’ll excuse the pun, smarter. It’s more connected than ever, with more tech, more driver assistance features and more space. It now sits on Geely’s open-source SEA platform that sees Smart move into the compact SUV realm.

Initially the various Mercedes-Benz studios around the world created design proposals for the new model, before one was selected and collaboration on the #1 began. However, it was about more than just the car or the new platform, says member of the Mercedes and Smart design team, Henryk Strojwasiewicz.

“For the original brief we had lots of freedom, because we were asked for our vision of the future Smart brand,” he told Car Design News. “You have to respect the platform, but it was more about creating the new design DNA.”

That DNA has moved things on from the city-car dimensions of the Smart models that have existed so far, so why the move to a compact SUV or crossover look?

“I would say we were looking for a radical and stylish design statement rather than just the next car and this is what came out of it,” he says. He is adamant though that they have managed to translate some of the quirky character of previous models in a daring and brave way in the #1.

“Product sensuality is the most crucial aspect, because that’s kind of the lettering, the wording for our design DNA and this is what the car is breathing,” he says. “It’s what you see, our three pillars of love, pure and unexpected,” he says.

He explains those three pillars by saying that love stands for full volumes and essential shapes while pure stands for clear graphics and seamless integration. Then unexpected is all about out of the box thinking, striving for radical and surprising solutions beyond the distinctive shark nose at the front.

“You have this kind of precious pearl body that’s held between the floating roof and the rocker panels. It’s a new interpretation of our Smart shell that we had before and now it’s moved forward. So really that precious part is being held between the two shells, the upper and lower part.”

“It’s the very soft and sensual volumes, the second shapes are really important to us as well. And lots of attention goes to the interior, with our floating hoop sculpture and really creating a modern lounge-like atmosphere”

That brings us to the interior, which is very much the area of expertise for Strojwasiewicz who also worked on the interior design of the Mercedes-Benz EQS.

He says that the instrument panel was inspired by the shape of a rounded, oblong Bluetooth speaker, an outline that has also been used in other elements such as the air vents. Here though there’s a significant difference in the design approach compared to Mercedes.

“At Mercedes, especially with the EQS, we tried to be much more elegant with more flow, the Smart is more product design oriented, much more geometric,” he says. “The sections and the surfaces, these are definitely areas that you would feel on Mercedes and on Smart cars, but the outlines on Mercedes are more emotional, more artistic and on Smart cars it’s a more geometric product.” Despite that approach, there’s still plenty of emotion in many of the interior design features, including the centre console.

“What was most important for us was the sensual sculptural elegantly flowing from the loop that we have that flows into the centre console and we’re actually opening up the centre console underneath,” he says. In turn the aim was then to use this element to emphasise the airy and spacious feeling of the interior. It’s not just through design though, the wheels have been pushed out to the corners and the SEA platform has allowed the team to give the #1 rear seat legroom that matches the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Then there’s the infotainment screen. Here the team have stayed away from full integration like the Mercedes hyper screen, choosing instead for a simple, central touchscreen. Strojwasiewicz sees it as a focus point in the car, although all the essential driving information is contained in the digital instrument cluster and head-up display. Interestingly, the team have chosen a character to represent the personification of the car, in this case opting to incorporate a fox into the infotainment screen that has been inspired by the low poly characters used in the gaming industry.

“The fox is the companion, your digital companion,” he says. “It’s an avatar, the personification of the car’s AI. In my opinion, the fox is a very clever animal and it always finds its way”. Are there any other elements or easter eggs within the design that people might not notice at first glance?

“The sparking taillights, also our headrest trim piece that you would maybe only discover on second glance. In addition there is a little comic character from the design sketches in the rear quarter windows.” Those sparkling taillights are all about fireworks, creating not only something visually dramatic but also a link to the Chinese fascination with fireworks.

“I think that’s definitely communicating the collaboration with China, the new joint venture, because China is famous for fireworks,” he says. “Making it into production was a big challenge but when the car is unlocked and it’s opening, everything is animated and you can really feel the fireworks.”

Along with the centre console, the rear lights are one of his favourite elements in the design of the Smart #1, but as the first model in a new journey for Smart, what can we expect to see in the models that will follow it? Not surprisingly, Strojwasiewicz is giving nothing away.

“You will see in the future. This is really the start for the next chapter in Smart history and it’s a very exciting chapter,” he concludes. It’s not the Smart we are used to, small city cars that could park next to each other in one urban parking space with their quirky styling. They arrived at a time when we were expecting a trend towards downsizing. Instead the world has embraced the SUV in various forms and both Mercedes and Geely will be hoping that they have made the smart choice.