Smart #5 revealed in Australia

The Smart #5 is an all-new mid-size electric SUV that made its global debut in Australia this week ahead of local deliveries Down Under in the second half of 2025.

Designed by Mercedes and engineered and built by Geely in China, the new model is a Toyota RAV4-sized vehicle but it’s unlikely to have Toyota-rivalling pricing, given the reborn brand is pitching itself as an upmarket car-maker.

The Smart #5 will launch first in China in late 2024, followed by European deliveries in mid-2025 then it’s Australia’s turn later in 2025, with pricing tipped to range from $70,000 to $100,000.

The Smart #5 is the biggest Smart car ever but that’s not the most notable thing about the brand’s #5 mid-size SUV, revealed to the world’s media in Byron Bay.

The sheer scale of technology and features onboard give the Smart #5 (yes, you’re supposed to pronounce it “hashtag five”) a unique position in the SUV segment, as well as Smart’s promise that its first-ever mid-size family SUV will be able to tackle more than a mere dirt road.

Height-adjustable air suspension helps the car negotiate rougher terrain (though don't expect that to be offered on every model) but whether the vehicle is a genuine rock-crusher or just looks the part remains to be seen.

However, recent testing of the Smart #5 in Australia suggests it could be the real deal.

Revealed in both base model Pro+ trim and high-grade Summit Edition (which could easily eclipse $100K once accessorised), the Smart #5 is being touted as a ‘light premium’ vehicle and is available with a 20-speaker Sennheiser audio system with a removable boom box, not to mention a projector system built-in to the front end and a seating system that creates a double bed to sleep in.

The high-spec Summit Edition stands out thanks to a bunch of #5-specific accessories, as part of the optional Adventurer's Package, including a low-profile roof rack and integrated light bar, with a pair of outrigger accessories hanging off the rear of the rack, comprising a lockable cargo pod on the left side, a retractable ladder on the right.

Local specifications are far from being announced but Smart confirmed that the Summit Edition and all its accoutrements are being sought for Australia.

Power and torque numbers for Australia are still unknown but dual motor versions can pump out up to 475kW and smart revealed to us at the #5’s global unveiling that it will offer a 100kWh battery with a range of 740km on the Chinese CLTC test cycle and have a dual-motor AWD driveline with mud, rock, snow and sand-specific offroad drive modes.

Smaller batteries will also be available alongside the 100kWh flagship unit and an 800-volt architecture provides an ability to charge the battery from 10% to 80% in as little as 15 minutes.

In electric SUV terms, the Smart #5 is marginally shorter than a Tesla Model Y at 4705mm long, but sits astride a slightly longer wheelbase of 2900mm. However, while the Model Y has a hunchbacked and streamlined silhouette, the #5 has a conventional two-box SUV wagon profile.

But that’s probably the only conventional element to speak of.

A built-in projector, mounted behind the Smart #5’s front grille, is capable of projecting a movie up to seven metres from the front bumper and makes the #5 a mobile drive-in theatre. The 20-speaker Sennheiser audio system with removable soundbar can blast out the soundtrack of whatever you’re watching, sure to make you the envy (or enemy) of anyone in an adjacent campsite.

It's not a new idea, mind you. Smart already demonstrated a built-in projector in its ForStars concept of 2012, but the #5 marks the first time it will put that idea into production.

We asked smart’s local distributor LSH Auto whether the projector would fall afoul of Australian design rules, and the answer was that it should be compliant.

Another stand-out feature is the seating configuration. Or rather, the bedding configuration. The Smart #5’s five seats not only have the rear bench mounted on sliding rails but the backrests of all seats can fold flat to form a double bed.

This will be useful if you forget to pack the tent inside the German-Chinese EV’s sizable 1530 litre boot space (plus there’s an additional 72 litres under the bonnet). The boot also has a 220V power outlet to offload energy from the battery into whatever gadgets or camping equipment you want to bring with you.

The view from the pilot’s chair is peachy, with two massive 13-inch touchscreens that stretch across two thirds of the dashboard and the remaining space is taken up by the driver’s electronic instrument panel.

Built into the dash is a wide-angle head-up display with augmented reality overlays to aid with navigation and all infotainment functions are run by a water-cooled AMD V2000 CPU.

Lower-tech visual entertainment is supplied by the expansive glasshouse, with a huge glass roof and large frameless door glass giving passengers a good view of the outside world.

When is it coming to Australia? Smart’s global head of marketing Mandy Zhang told carsales that the #5’s rollout will kick off very soon but Australians will need to be patient.

“First will be China, they’ll be quarter four of this year. Then quarter two, 2025, for Europe.

“As for the exact timing for Australia, we still need to achieve some internal alignment but I would say it’s definitely the second half of next year,” she said.

As for pricing, there’s no indication of where the #5 will land. With top-end dual-motor examples of the smart #1 and #3 compact SUVs now on sale in Australia wearing retail stickers north of $70k, that level may be where pricing for the #5 begins – although that would likely be for a base Pro+ grade with a more modest battery capacity than the 100kWh hero and possibly a single-motor powertrain instead of AWD.