New Smart #5 is the brand's biggest car to date

Though no longer a player in the South African market, Smart is still alive and kicking in other corners of the globe. Co-owned by Mercedes-Benz and Geely, the quirky German marque is renowned for its compact and interestingly styled city cars that are a pleasure to park in crowded continental city streets. 

Seemingly at odds with this ethos, Smart has unveiled its all-new #5: a premium mid-size electric SUV that is its most spacious and versatile model to date.

Measuring 4,695mm long, 1,920mm wide and 1,705mm tall it offers seating for five adults and up to 1,530l of rear cargo capacity. Up front an illuminated 2l frunk can be used to stow things such as charging cables.

For maximum versatility, Smart says all the seats can easily be adjusted to transform the cockpit into a comfortable resting and sleeping area: #vanlife in your #5. 

With a wheelbase of 2,900mm, Smart's SUV sports a comfortable interior with plenty of legroom and tons of snazzy features, including heated rear seats, electrically adjustable backrests, an electric sunshield, LED reading lights and 256-colour ambient lighting.

Digitalisation is immense, with an MD V2000 chipset and Unreal 3D engine powering a 25.6" augmented reality head-up display, 10.25" high definition digital instrument cluster plus two 13" OLED centre and passenger screens. Occupants can also look forward to niceties such as an AI-supported voice control system, video streaming and a 1,190W Sennheiser Signature Sound System wired to 20 high-performance loudspeakers. 

Powering the Smart #5 is an 800V electrical architecture and a duo of battery packs designed to suit most needs and budgets. Entry-level Pro derivatives feature a 76kWh lithium iron phosphate battery while Pro+, Pulse, Summit Edition and Premium models all benefit from a 100kWh lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide battery.

In its most efficient form, Smart says the #5 is capable of achieving a range of up to 589km. Plugged into a 400kW DC fast charger, the biggest battery can be juiced from 10% to 80% in 18 minutes.

With dual electric motors and all-wheel drive, the Pulse and Summit Edition will zip from 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds. For superior traction on all surfaces, these models are equipped with five off-road driving modes: Adaptive, Sand, Snow, Mud and Rock.

The new Smart #5 line-up will go on sale in the UK from the fourth quarter of the year, with prices expected to start somewhere around the £40,000 (R943,370) mark.