New Smart #5 Electric SUV PREVIEWED ahead of Beijing Motor Show

The new Smart #5 – the third electric SUV from the Mercedes-Geely partnership – is previewed ahead of its debut as a concept at the Beijing Motor Show.

It’s five years since Mercedes teamed up with Geely to re-invent the Smart Car brand, although it took until 2022 for the first fruits of their efforts – the Smart #1 – to arrive, followed almost exactly a year later by the bigger Smart #3.

Now it’s time – almost exactly a year after the arrival of the Smart #3 – for the next instalment of the Smart EV journey with the new Smart #5, teased with a design sketch (above) ahead of debuting as a concept at the Beijing Motor Show on 25 April.

Not only is the Smart #5 a lot bigger than anything we’ve seen from Smart before (it’s thought to be around 4600mm – around the size of a Ford Kuga) it’s also eschewing the curvy look of the #1 and #2 for a boxy, rugged-looking SUV aimed at family buyers.

Unlike the Smart #1 and #2, which Smart sees as a ‘second car’ model, the new #5 is aimed at a market of primary car buyers and will come with a bigger battery than its siblings and be built on Geely’s SEA Architecture which already underpins cars from Volvo, Polestar and more.

It seems likey the Smart #5 will share its powertrains with its lesser siblings, but with the Platform able to support RWD and AWD it also seems we’re likely to see a 450bhp Smart #5 Brabus too.

All will be revealed next week.