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Smart will unveil an autonomous EV concept in Frankfurt

Urban mobility minicar maker Smart took to Instagram to tease a new concept car it plans to unveil next month at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It's an all-electric, autonomous car that borrows its electric powertrain from the Mercedes-Benz EQ. The partial reveal on Instagram doesn't give much to go on visually, except for an interesting LCD display on the front grille. (Or is that the rear? We're not sure.) It's due to hit the International Motor Show (IAA) Sept. 11. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In a news release touting its IAA lineup, Daimler touts the car as being "an intelligent solution for shared urban mobility." Here's more from the company (tl;dr version: It's an electric, autonomous, car-sharing concept): With the new, electrically powered smart showcar, the brand is exhibiting a study by the recently founded product and technology brand EQ as a world premiere. This fully autonomously driving study is the first model to comprehensively embody all four pillars of the corporate strategy CASE: "Connected", "Autonomous", "Shared" and "Electric". It stands for maximum mobility efficiency in and for the urban environment thanks to systematic further development of the carsharing concept, and makes the vision of individualised, highly flexible urban public transport a reality. Our recent First Drive review of a 2017 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive Carbrio was fairly brutal, with the author noting that Mercedes' Smart subsidiary "has not learned anything, but simply converted their previous losing formula to run on electricity." Smart announced back in 2016 it planned to electrify its entire lineup. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Video: Green Frankfurt Motor Show smart Technology Emerging Technologies Hatchback Autonomous Vehicles Concept Cars Electric

Smart Concept #1 shows the brand's premium electric crossover future

At this year's Munich Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz's budget brand, Smart, has revealed a concept that shows the future of its electric cars. And with four doors and borderline conventional design, it hardly seems like a Smart. It's called the Concept #1 (real original, we know), and it even seems like something that could find buyers in America. In actuality, a Smart four-door isn't all that strange. Its first four-door was the first-generation ForFour, which shared its underpinnings and powertrain with the Mitsubishi Colt and launched in 2004. Then there was the Renault Twingo-based second-generation ForFour, which was more like a stretched ForTwo. Unlike the Concept #1, those past ForFour models still featured Smart's trademark design features such as funky shapes and a contrast-colored passenger cell. The Concept #1 on the other hand looks positively mainstream. It has a typical two-box profile synonymous with crossovers, and it has a floating, contrast-colored roof; design cues we've seen many times before, and will see many times again. It certainly doesn't look bad, though, and it is quite smooth and sleek. It's also reasonably sized, measuring just a bit longer, taller and wider than a Kia Soul, but not quite as big as a Seltos. The interior is where it stands out more. It looks almost like a budget Mercedes-Benz, and the company says it wants to become more of a premium brand. Particularly eye-catching is the use of polished-gold-colored trim on the dash and the high floating center console. Paired with the white interior and copious ambient lighting, it's reminiscent of Maybach concepts. But the Concept #1 has just one screen sitting dead center, and it seems to take on the functions of infotainment, climate and instrumentation. Though the Concept #1 is, well, a concept, Smart says it previews a production model. Development is being headed by Geely, parent company of both Volvo and Lotus, and Mercedes will handle exterior and interior design. And in keeping with the brand's switch to selling only electric models, it will of course be electric. Specifications are unknown, though. With conventionally good looks and practical size, it will probably be a sales success. And if Mercedes wanted to try to relaunch the brand in the U.S., perhaps as a Mini alternative, this would probably be a good way to do so. Related video:

Smart ForTwo Electric Drive Quick Spin Review | The saddest way to spend $25,000

I went into my weeklong loan of the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive expecting to dislike it. Seven days later, I didn't find anything that had changed my mind. But before I get into all the reasons you shouldn't buy an electric Smart, I think it's only fair that I offer up some positives. First, like all Smart ForTwo models, the ED is extremely maneuverable and has the best turning radius in the business. Second ... well, that 22.8-foot turning radius is really something special. For $24,650, the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive — I'll decline to make any jokes about the ED initials of early electric Smart models, but know that the humor is not lost on me — offers up a range of 58 miles on a full charge of its 17.6-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. We'll get back to that little specification shortly. What little forward thrust is available comes from a three-phase synchronous electric motor that produces 80 horsepower and 118 pound-feet of torque. 0-60 takes 11.4 agonizing seconds, and the top speed is mercifully limited to 81 miles per hour. My test car was equipped with a few options that pushed its price up to $29,810 and added an ironic "Passion" script just ahead of the side-view mirrors. We'll address the elephant in the room right now. For $30,875, the 2018 Nissan Leaf offers more range — in fact, at 151 miles, almost three times as much range — more power, more seats, more cargo room, and it's more fun to drive. For $37,495, the Chevy Bolt is better still, and its range of 238 miles on a full charge means it could be a legitimate primary vehicle for the vast majority of Americans. There are two seats in the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. In front of the driver is a gauge binnacle that houses a speedometer along its outer edge, and an electronic display that can show things like current state of charge, available range, or an energy flow gauge that helps you keep tabs on how efficiently you're driving. Oddly, there's another gauge pod atop the left side of the dash with gauges that mechanically duplicate state of power and the percentage of power currently being consumed. The rest of the interior is made up of an assortment of plastics, some optionally colorful and others various shades of black, and none of it feels worthy of a $30,000 sticker price. In our last test of the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, we called the interior finishings "a tragic universe of mismatched petrochemical schmutz." That just about sums it up.