smart #1

Brand: smart · made by smart Automobile Co., Ltd. · Producer website ↗

Sino-German compact electric crossover SUV; launched 2022 as the first vehicle of the relaunched smart brand under the Mercedes-Benz + Geely joint venture. A complete departure from the tiny smart Fortwo city car of previous generations.

Origin

Headquarters

🇨🇳China

Sino-German joint-venture electric-car manufacturer headquartered in Hangzhou Bay, China; operates the smart brand (originally founded 1994 in Germany by Mercedes-Benz and Swatch).

Produced in

🇨🇳China

The smart #1 is built at Geely's plant in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China — not in Europe. The vehicle is designed by Mercedes-Benz designers in Germany but engineered on Geely's SEA electric platform (shared with Zeekr and Volvo EX30) and assembled entirely in China. The previous-generation smart Fortwo was built at Hambach, France, until 2020.

Raw materials

Battery cells from CATL (China); SEA-platform components from Geely's Chinese supplier network; design and brand elements from Mercedes-Benz Germany.

Ownership

🇨🇳 Mercedes-Benz Group AG (50%) and Zhejiang Geely Holding (50%) — based in China non-EU

smart Automobile Co., Ltd. was formed in 2019 as a 50/50 joint venture between Mercedes-Benz Group AG (Germany) and Geely Holding (China), replacing Mercedes-Benz's prior sole ownership of the smart brand. The company is headquartered in China; the new smart line-up (#1, #3, #5) is designed by Mercedes-Benz in Germany but built at the Geely plant in Xi'an, China. The original European smart Hambach plant in France was sold to INEOS in 2020.

Sources

Information last updated 14 May 2026. Spotted an inaccuracy? Send a correction.