Smart (marque)


Smart is a Chinese German automotive marque established in 1994. Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Mercedes-Benz AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2019 and aimed at producing Smart-badged cars in China to be marketed globally. The venture is headquartered in Ningbo.
Originally, Smart was known for producing microcars and subcompacts, primarily the Fortwo and Forfour, at Smartville in Hambach, Moselle, France and additionally at Renault's Revoz plant. Since its restructuring in 2019, the brand now produces small battery electric vehicles at a manufacturing plant in China, with distribution, marketing and aftersales activities in Europe handled by Smart Europe GmbH, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany
The marque was founded in 1994 by Micro Compact Car AG, a joint venture between SMH and Daimler-Benz. MCC became a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz in 1998, and was subsequently renamed MCC smart GmbH, then smart GmbH. smart GmbH was then absorbed by DaimlerChrysler in 2006, making smart a marque within the Mercedes-Benz Cars division.
The name Smart derives from the cooperation of the Swiss company Swatch with Mercedes-Benz: "Swatch Mercedes ART".

History

Origins

The design concept for the marque's automobiles began at Mercedes-Benz in the early 1970s to late 1980s. After brief backing by Volkswagen, the first model was released by Daimler-Benz in October 1998. Several variants on the original design have been introduced, with the original being the "City Coupé" that would be renamed the "ForTwo".
In late 1982, SMH CEO Nicolas Hayek began developing an idea for a new car using the same type of manufacturing strategies and personalization features used to popularize Swatch watches. He believed that the automotive industry had ignored a sector of potential customers who wanted a small and stylish compact city car. This idea soon became known as the "Swatchmobile". Hayek's private company Hayek Engineering AG began designing the new car for SMH, with seating for two and a hybrid drivetrain. The name Smart was coined by Manfred Gotta.
While design of the car was proceeding, Hayek feared existing manufacturers would feel threatened by the Swatchmobile. Thus, rather than directly competing, he preferred to cooperate with another company in the automotive industry. This would also relieve SMH of the cost burden in setting up a distribution network. Hayek approached several automotive manufacturers, and on 3 July 1991, he reached an agreement with Volkswagen to share development of the new project.
By 1993, Ferdinand Piëch had become CEO of Volkswagen, and he immediately sought to terminate the project with SMH. Volkswagen had already been working on their own "three-litre car": a car which would consume three litres of fuel per 100 kilometres of driving. Volkswagen's own concept was believed to be a better business proposition, featuring four seats and more cargo room.
Hayek had suspected that Piëch would seek to end the agreement with SMH upon his ascendancy to the CEO position; therefore, he discreetly began approaching other car companies with the Swatchmobile project. Rebuffed by BMW, Fiat, General Motors and Renault, he finally reached an informal agreement with Daimler-Benz AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars.
A deal was announced on 4 March 1994 at a press conference at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart, that the companies would join forces in founding Micro Compact Car AG. 49% of the initial capital of 50 million Swiss francs was provided by SMH and the remaining 51% by Daimler-Benz. The company consisted of two subsidiaries: MCC GmbH based in Renningen, which would design the car, and the then-unnamed manufacturing plant. SMH Auto SA, owned by Hayek, would design a hybrid electric drive system for the car, while Hayek Engineering would audit the design and manufacturing.
The press conference also featured the debut of two concept cars: the "eco-sprinter" and "eco-speedster", styled by Mercedes-Benz's design studio in California. The cars were similar to the eventual Smart City-Coupé. No mention was made of the fact that SMH had no input in the design of these concepts, and they were badged as normal Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
By the end of April 1994, MCC had set up a head office in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.

Pre-launch (1994–1997)

Three co-directors were immediately named to head the new company: designer and engineer Johann Tomforde and financial administrator Christoph Baubin from Daimler-Benz, and marketing manager Hans Jürg Schär, who spearheaded the original Swatch marketing campaigns in the mid-1980s. Tomforde had previously created concept sketches of an electric rear-engine, 2-seat, ultra-short economy car in 1972, which formed the basis for the 1981 Mercedes-Benz NAFA concept. Tomforde had been working on the Mercedes City Car project at Daimler-Benz since 1990, which produced the eco-sprinter and eco-speedster concepts, as well as the Vision-A concept, which eventually became the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
One of the first controversies at MCC was the name of the car itself. Nicolas Hayek insisted it retain Swatch in some way: "Swatchmobile", or "Swatch Car". Daimler-Benz refused and pushed for a neutral name. The final selection was Smart, an acronym that had been previously used internally by MCC for *S*watch *M*ercedes *Art*.
By May 1994, the co-directors had identified 74 potential sites for the assembly plant. The final site was announced on 20 December 1994: Hambach, France. The purpose-built factory quickly gained the nickname "Smartville".
In 1995, Tomforde devised a modular system of assembly for the car, insisting that suppliers design and assemble and even install their own modules onto the final car at the new plant, using their own employees and thus reducing the cost overhead for the parent companies and divesting MCC of the financial and legal liabilities for those parts. It also provided a fiscal framework whereby MCC could share the development costs with the suppliers, rather than having to fund the entire project themselves. MCC secured contracts with suppliers to design and supply almost all parts of the car: seats by Faurecia, interiors by VDO, chassis and door modules by Magna, door panels by Dynamit Nobel, and suspension by Krupp.
Despite offloading a substantial amount of the development on the suppliers, MCC required more capital. Recapitalization by Daimler-Benz increased their share of ownership in the company to 81% by 1996, leaving SMH with only the remaining 19%.
The assembly plant opened on 27 October 1997, with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting by then-French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Introduction of the new Smart City-Coupé was planned for March 1998; however, dynamic instability of the prototypes prompted Daimler-Benz to announce postponing the launch until October 1998. Johann Tomforde was replaced as chief engineer by Gerhard Fritz. Fritz lowered the centre of gravity, widened the track, stiffened the suspension, changed the steering, and added ballast weight to the front of the car in order to increase its stability in emergency avoidance manoeuvres.
The car launched successfully in nine European countries in October 1998, but the final design did not fulfill Hayek's expectations. Hayek pushed for a hybrid drivetrain, but the final product used a relatively conventional gasoline engine. Shortly afterward, Daimler-Benz bought out SMH's remaining stake in the company. MCC was now a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz. The office in Biel was shut down and operations were consolidated at the MCC GmbH design centre in Germany. On 1 January 1999, MCC GmbH changed its name to MCC smart GmbH, and by 2000, it dropped the last vestiges of the association with SMH, becoming smart GmbH.

Expansion (1998–2019)

The model line was subsequently expanded to include the rear-engine, rear-drive Roadster and a four-door, four-seat supermini aptly named Forfour.
The expansion did not increase profits at the company; Smart GmbH lost nearly four billion euros from 2003 to 2006. Plans were enacted to increase the company's profitability and integrate its operations with Daimler.
In 2005, Daimler decided against purchasing a 50% share in the Dutch NedCar plant used to manufacture the ForFour, ending its production. A planned SUV called Formore was terminated as the assembly plant in Brazil was being fitted with machines, and production of the Roadster was discontinued. In 2006, after dwindling sales and heavy financial losses, Smart GmbH was liquidated and its operations were absorbed by DaimlerChrysler directly.
Until April 2019, Smart operated under the Mercedes-Benz Cars division of Daimler AG, offering the Fortwo coupé, Fortwo convertible and Forfour hatchback.

Geely partnership (2019–present)

In 2019, Daimler announced the establishment of a joint venture partnership with Chinese automaker Geely. The deal, worth a total of ¥5.4b RMB, involves a new production plant to be built in China, which will start production on a new generation of Smart-branded vehicles. In 2021, the first concept of this partnership, called Concept #1, was unveiled at the Munich Motor Show. The concept vehicle is built on Geely's SEA platform and features design details of existing Smart models, including a panoramic glass roof, frameless suicide-style rear doors, and a large touchscreen infotainment system.

Leadership

Apart from the original Smart Fortwo, a sporty Smart Roadster, a limited production of 2000 erstwhile concept Smart Crossblade and a supermini Smart Forfour were also offered. These have now been discontinued. There were also plans to introduce the French made cross-over based on the body of the ForFour and the AWD hardware of the Mercedes C-class with the name of Formore but industrialization of this was cancelled at the 11th hour due to unfavourable exchange rate swings and spending cutbacks driven by losses elsewhere within Smart.