When it comes to the smart brand, the first thing that comes to many people's minds is the two small cars that can easily navigate through narrow streets. That's right, smart fortwo! However, after 2020, smart fortwo has not released any modified models to the Chinese market. Even after entering the era of electrified platforms, the smart brand has delayed the launch of two small cars that inherit the "spirit" of the brand's fuel era. Although the boutique two-seater car has never appeared, the model name "# 2" has always been retained by the smart brand. Now, smart fortwo's successor in the age of electrification is finally here! In October, smart Genie # 2 will debut at the 2026 Paris Motor Show and will officially meet Chinese consumers in the fourth quarter. The new car is based on the ECA (Electric Compact Architecture) pure electric compact exclusive architecture developed by the smart brand for A00/A0 class small electric vehicles. "Building a small car is definitely harder than building a big car!" Smart brand global company CEO Xiangbei Xiu lamented that it took 7 years to launch Smart Genie # 2. why is the smart brand obsessed with launching this two-door car? What's so hard about it? Can you fight in the market? Recently, Xiong Xiangbei and Kangyi, CMO of smart brand global company, conducted a small-scale in-depth communication with several core media such as Automobile Home. In response to these concerns, they also provided answers. Product that defines the brand “smart fortwo has always defined the smart brand." Gan Xiangbei said that the strategic significance of the two-door smart has never changed since the birth of the brand. Indeed, as Xiangbei said! As the first model launched by the smart brand, the smart fortwo has anchored the core brand definition of “urban mobility” for the smart brand since its birth. Because this model is built to meet the needs of urban mobility. The CEO of smart brand global company, Xiangbei Hui, is in a metropolis, especially in a city with a population of tens of millions like Beijing and Shanghai. People always face realistic pressures such as road congestion, tight parking spaces, and public travel resource allocation when driving. The development of smart fortwo aims to be small, easy to drive, and easy to park, so that users can have a good driving experience in urban travel and save more time. Kang Yi said that the original intention of the smart brand has never changed. At present, the city is becoming more and more congested, and there are fewer and fewer parking resources. The launch of Smart Companion # 2 is undoubtedly the inheritance of the smart spirit. Based on the foundation of the urban mobility market, the smart brand has extended its "unusual way" brand positioning in the era of electrification. Nowadays, others are making bigger and bigger cars, linking luxury and size, but smart still adheres to the boutique route of not going the usual way, making small, fine and personalized products, so that everyone can truly feel the difference between smart brand fashion and personality car. Kang Yi said that small and refined, small and beautiful, is the direction that smart brands will continue to pursue in the future. In other words, not in the context of the transition to new energy, smart brands do not want to build a boutique two-seater car, but want to create a pure electric boutique car that meets their standards, which is not so easy. The new smart Sprite # 2 has always been a must for smart. The question is never "make or not make", but when the technology will be mature enough for them to present the near "perfect" product in their hearts to consumers. After "seven years of sharpening a sword", they finally felt that the time was ripe. Then came the all-new Smart Companion # 2. Harder than a big car! "Building a small car is harder than building a large car" is not difficult to build, but it is difficult to balance business, control, safety, endurance and so on. According to Zhang Xiangbei, the research and development of the ECA architecture, which cost billions of yuan, was completed only after they stepped on countless pits. The platform supports high-voltage and fast-charging, adopts a rear-wheel drive layout, and allows space utilization and comfort to be improved by optimizing the layout. Why did the new Smart Sprite # 2 take 7 years to complete? Why is the smart sprite # 2-ECA electric compact architecture spending so much money, effort, and time to develop a dedicated platform? Because it is impossible to achieve the balance of each dimension by taking the existing technical solutions. For example, if you want to continue to make money in business, you have to sacrifice safety, or you have to sacrifice battery life, or you have to sacrifice dynamics, or you have to sacrifice luxury. “The only way to be above all else and commercially sustainable is to start from scratch." Xiangbei said that the ECA electric compact architecture is the best solution found after touching the wall countless times, and it is also the most difficult solution. Xi Xiangbei described the development of smart elf # 2 as "climbing a very steep slope": climbing halfway to find that it can't go up, slipping down again, saving up and going up again... just like this, smart rushed back and forth three times before rushing up. The first time was during the pandemic. The price of lithium carbonate per ton suddenly rose from the earliest 40,000 yuan to about 80,000 yuan, and later even rushed to 600,000 yuan. This price increase means that the commercial viability of the previous design of Smart Genie # 2 has completely collapsed from a financial perspective. This means that the work done at that time became tuition, or sunk costs. The second was three years ago, when Europe imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. The tax rate jumped directly to 28.8% from the previous 10%. Just before this, the second version of the smart Sprite # 2 cost plan was completed inside smart, and it was close to forming in financial terms. The additional tariff cost of 18.8% was added, and the cost structure of the entire project was made in vain. After all, the main market for smart brands is Europe. "Even if we have touched the wall a few times in the past and paid a large amount of tuition fees, we still adhere to the pursuit of the highest safety, the highest battery life, the best control, the strongest luxury, regardless of cost, while achieving commercial sustainability. Xiong Xiangbei said. Confident in sales volume Although smart Genie # 2 will make its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in October, it will launch in the Chinese market at the earliest. According to the smart brand's plan, the new car is expected to meet Chinese consumers as early as November. According to Kang Yi, according to normal customer portraits and market segmentation logic, smart brands should pay attention to how big the A00 market is. But the smart sprite # 2 is a special car, and the traditional way is no longer applicable. The potential customers of this new car do not see a clear gender distinction, and there is no clear age classification. Even with Kanye himself, the CMO of smart brand global company, there is a very large age gap between potential consumers interested in this new car, those in their 40s and those in their 20s. Age and gender are hard to identify, but that doesn't mean they don't have something in common. Kang Yi said that the potential users of the new smart sprite # 2 are difficult to summarize with age or gender, but more through spiritual attributes. These potential customers are basically people with tone and personality, and have certain requirements for quality of life and brand characteristics. Some colleagues in smart brand marketing said that the potential users of the new smart elf # 2 can be called "four young people": budget, attitude, taste, and hobbies. Seeing such user positioning, we have to think of two questions: Is the number of these users enough to support sales? Can smart sprite # 2 satisfy the "picky" eyes of users? Speaking about the sales volume of the new smart sprite # 2, Kang Yi said that they are very confident internally. On the one hand, these confidence comes from the user base of more than 2 million smart fortwo and smart sprites # 1, # 3, # 5, # 6, on the other hand, it also comes from some product highlights that have not yet been announced. According to Kang Yi, smart Genie # 2 is a truly boutique car that can meet the needs of high-end consumers in all aspects. Take, for example, the safety that everyone cares about. Xiangbei revealed that the new smart Genie # 2 is a global model, so any safety standards it has are built to the highest standards in all markets around the world. According to the plan, many small details and small ideas of the new smart sprite # 2 will be released in the future. In the future, Car House will continue to pay attention to this new car, and gradually analyze where the confidence of smart comes from.