Badly kept secret
On April 18, Smart reveals his perhaps worst-kept secret ever. On that day we will be officially introduced to the electric Smart #3, a new model of which Smart is now releasing the first sketches, but which AutoWeek could already show you extensively in November last year.
Smart likes to keep counting. After the Smart #1 comes not the #2, but the #3. Where the Smart #1 was already the largest Smart ever with its 4.21 meters, the Smart #3 will soon take that title away from that car. When AutoWeek in 2022 showed the first photos of the #3 from the database of the Chinese Ministry of Transport and Information Technology, we also found the first data of the model. What turned out? The Smart #3 will be 4.4 meters long and therefore almost 20 centimeters longer than the #1. The wheelbase of the Smart #3, which will make its official debut on April 18, is 2.79 meters. This means it has 4 centimeters more between its front and rear axles.
The sketches that Smart is now releasing of the #3 do indeed show the model that we were able to present to you last year. Designed in Europe by the Mercedes-Benz design team, the #3 has a steeply sloping roofline from the B-pillar. Smart describes the #3 itself as a car with a “[…] sporty fastback silhouette”. Just like the Smart #1, the #3 has light units on both the front and rear that are connected to each other. Smart itself speaks of “a strong rear fender” and that also seems to us better than a weak one.
Smart #3
The Smart #3 will also come to the Netherlands in 2024. Technical specifications are not yet officially available, although AutoWeek already reports that – at least in China – there will be a rear-wheel drive version with a 272 hp electric motor on the rear axle and that there will be a four-wheel drive version that also produces 156 hp. strong electric motor on the front axle. Regardless of the chosen version, the top speed is 180 km/h. Fun fact: the design of the #1 did not manage to keep Smart a secret long enough. Smart is probably saving model name #2 for a successor to the Fortwo that should be on the market in 2024.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl