Brabus treatment funks-up smart EV to businesslike demonic effect
2021 Mercedes Smart Racing Green EQ
Here’s the gen, Iain Robertson harbours a long-standing love affair with smart, the lower-case city-car brand that he has long believed is the epitome of city-chic and, since its total conversion to electricity, is now the ultimate in personal transportation.
Ever since Nicolas Hayek, the inventor of the smart watch, determined that a smart car was a sensible concept, I shall admit that I have been hooked by it. However, as tends to happen with millionaire entrepreneurs, even their time, money and patience can be stretched to breaking point, when they pursue improperly researched projects.
To a certain extent, forging an early salvaging relationship with Volkswagen Group may have seemed like a darned good idea. However, after much shilly-shallying with several prototypes and several differences of opinion, VW dumped its smart connection, confirming that it would create instead its own ‘three-litre’ city car (where the 3.0l reference is not to engine capacity but is a per-100km reference to fuel economy). While VW did so with a 90+mpg version of the Polo, its ultra-streamlined two-seater variant was ultimately side-lined.
Hayek continued to hawk his concept around the European motor industry, without much success, until Daimler-Benz agreed to support the programme. The initial design, which remained close to concept, which should underscore its adroitness, was to create a sturdy exoskeleton, onto which would be suspended a series of colour-impregnated composite panels, but within which would be housed a tiny, rear-mounted, three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine driving the rear wheels.
Merc undertook the development of the ICE adding significantly to the smart’s on-costs. Yet, Hayek’s dream had always been to electrify the car, to give it a strong future in the urban environment. Early cars were sold in the UK in left-hand drive form only through a London-based independent importer but it was merely a matter of time before the incredibly intelligent design was productionised more successfully at Hambach, on the Franco-German border, with a new factory being built at Boblingen, Germany subsequently.
Sitting tall and not unlike Merc’s own intrepid A-Class that placed much of the operational hardware below the floor, the smart car was a strict two-seater but one that offered a tremendous amount of space for two occupants, even though its residual boot behind the seats and above the canted-over engine was scarcely able to carry a week’s worth of shopping, let alone a couple of businessperson’s briefcases. Thanks to bright and inventive plastic panels that offered the ultimate flexibility of swapping them with ease, once bored with a colour combination, the smart concept-turned-reality gathered an ardent and fashionable following among the moderately rich and famous. With Merc ownership presupposing a premium price tag, it was inevitable that smart was far from inexpensive.
It was also inevitable that Merc, as a volume carmaker, would want to expand the proposition and, with its strategic partnership with Mitsubishi looming, it set out to create the forfour model, thus renaming the original smart as fortwo, for obvious reasons. The more conventional forfour would share much of its running gear with the latest Colt hatchback and both cars would be produced at the former Daf/Volvo factory, at Born, Holland.
However, the fortwo is an indefatigable wee thing. Today, the forfour shares its (now) rear-engined technology with Renault and its Twingo, with both cars being built at Renault’s Slovenian factory. However, Hayek’s dream reached fruition, when Merc determined in 2009 that an electric drivetrain would be most suitable for the Teutonic tiddler.
While the first-generation fortwos were available in EV form, they lacked both punch and range. Fortunately, the game has moved on several vital steps and the latest versions now boast an 82bhp electric motor, complete with 22kW on-board charger, which makes rapid-charging a typical 40mins, for 10-80% charge level. The lithium-ion battery pack located below the car’s floor consists of only 96 cells, which makes recharging (to 100% capacity) a six hours’ plug-in exercise using a domestic wallbox.
While a notional 70mls range is not much alongside some of the latest EV mileage claims and the fortwo’s 81mph top speed is unlikely to be troubled by any end-user, the car is zesty enough for most urban demands and unlikely to cause range anxiety. Emitting an engaging whirr from its drivetrain but little else, fortwo’s city-smart role is secure.
Long-time tuning and detailing partner to Mercedes-Benz and smart, Brabus, has breathed on the latest version of the cutesy two-seater, hiking its reputation by a considerable margin over other city cars. Of course, it is not cheap and inclusive of the Plug-in Car Grant (£2,500) costs from £25,495 on-the-road. However, internally clad in bespoke tan hide and finished externally in a devilishly dark shade of bottle green, smart’s elevation to the upper echelons of automotive society might be said to be complete.
Incorporating LED headlights, 16.0-inch diameter Brabus Monoblock XI black alloy wheels, with silver undercut, a panoramic glass sunroof and its city-perfect dimensions, the hand-detailed interior is finished off in Cognac Nappa leather, with Racing Green top stitching, as is the three-spoke multifunction sports steering wheel, which gains Racing Green double stitching. Additional interior highlights include aluminium Brabus sports pedals and monogrammed handbrake lever, Brabus gear shifter (for its simple forwards and reverse single-speed transmission) and aluminium Brabus-branded door sills. There is also a carbon fibre-ish trim for the centre console that surrounds the 8.0-inch touchscreen smart Connect media system, which includes connectivity with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Stop me, if I gush too much but I adore this wildly upmarket version of the smart fortwo. It is right in so many respects and helps with the greening of the urban environment, especially if the energy demands are met by renewable resources. Its handling is perfectly acceptable, notably because it has been electronically tamed, but it is ideal for squirting around town, where it more than meets a business user’s needs. So, shoot me, because I have a fascination for the smart car! In our world of increasing eco-pressures, this Brabus version proves that operators can have their cake and also be able to consume it.
