Heritage
Brand DNA
Since the birth of the brand, smart has always been led by the vision to explore the best solutions for future urban mobility.
Ever trendsetting, smart made a big impact with its product debut at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA), but the true origin of the smart brand goes 25 years further back, to 1972. It was then that Daimler proposed a concept for a small city car in response to increasing congestion and intensifying air pollution in urban areas.
Before long, the first concept car made its way off the drawing board and into reality, but it was not until 1981 that the NAFA – short for “Nahverkehrsfahrzeug” – (German for “short-distance vehicle”) was born. NAFA was Daimler’s interpretation of a small city concept car. With a small footprint and efficient use of space, it fulfilled a niche demand for a low-emission city car. Unfortunately, safety technology for small cars at the time did not meet Daimler’s rigorous demands for safety standards.
Fast forward more than a decade to 1994 - small car safety technology had come a long way. It was then that Daimler partnered with Nicholas Hayek of Swatch Group fame, jointly establishing the smart brand. The smart name comes from the combination of the Swatch and Mercedes names, together with “art” (Swatch Mercedes ART). The first smart concept car jointly created by the two parties made its debut at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show, and the mass-produced model went into production the following year.
Since then, smart has produced a number of models and concepts with diverse styles and distinctive personalities:
- 1998-2000 smart City-Coupé
- 2002 smart Crossblade
- 2001-2007 smart City-Coupé & City-Cabrio
- 2001-2004 smart K
- 2003-2005 smart Roadster Coupé & smart Roadster Cabrio
- 2004-2006 smart forfour
- 2007-2015 smart fortwo & smart fortwo Cabrio
- 2008-2016 smart electric drive
- 2015-2017 smart fortwo & forfour
- 2017- Now smart EQ family, including the smart EQ fortwo, fortwo cabrio & forfour
smart set the tone for its future in 2007 when it introduced a test fleet of 100 all-electric fortwos in London. After a series of partial test rollouts, full mass production of the smart fortwo EV commenced in 2011.
In 2019, smart Automobile Co., Ltd. was officially established. With a forward-looking "China-Europe dual-home" global development strategy, smart is committed to developing into a new-premium, intelligent and all-electric auto brand.
smart has recently completed a comprehensive renewal of its brand, products, and business model. New generation all-electric product development is led by the smart R&D team, with the Mercedes-Benz global design team responsible for vehicle design, and the product portfolio now expanded into more market segments. To further enhance its global operations, smart has established marketing and sales centres across China and Europe.
smart has recently completed a comprehensive renewal of its brand, product and business model. As the brand's first compact all-electric SUV, the smart #1 made its world premiere in April 2022, with initial deliveries in China followed by Europe. Every year from 2022 to 2024, smart will bring an all-new vehicle model to customers, entering new market segments with each, further enriching the new generation all-electric product portfolio, and designing a smarter future together with customers.
