Incredible, the Smart #5 torpedoed right at its launch

It is difficult to understand what is happening in the strategic committee of Geely, the Chinese group that owns Smart.

The Smart #5 was officially unveiled on August 30. And let’s be honest, for a few weeks now, we were ready to criticize this model, which is completely at odds with the philosophy that made Smart successful. Too big, too expensive, too Chinese, poorly designed, a fake adventurer, presented in Australia to generate buzz,… The criticisms were loaded, and everything was ready for a series of scathing articles. Then, like a child we feared but loved at first sight, the car won us over. No explanation, just an original shape born from the pencil of Mercedes designers, an innovative interior, and a serious technical sheet.

And just a few hours after this launch, Zeekr presents a completely unexpected new model, the 7X. If you didn’t know, Smart and Zeekr, like Volvo or Lotus, all belong to the Geely group. And from the reading of the presentation press release, it is clear that the 7X is essentially a re-skinned #5. In fact, it even seems that Geely engineers let the Mercedes design office have a bit of fun by borrowing daring stylistic paths, while they secretly developed a less divisive car on their side.

Because the Zeekr 7X is more conservative and classic than the Smart #5, which opens up a much wider potential customer base… except in China, where its compact design has very little chance of success! Unsurprisingly, Zeekr clearly stated that the 7X was designed with maximum consideration for global market specifics. So it is indeed a competitor to the Smart. And the worst part is that the Zeekr looks really interesting, with, for example, the same modularity as the Smart that allows transforming the interior into a large bedroom by folding all the seats, but with the addition of passenger screens to provide more entertainment options when stationary.

Pricing will of course determine the outcome of this sibling rivalry, but it is disheartening to see such poorly thought-out strategy…

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