Smart’s European CEO Wolfgang Ufer has spoken candidly about the brand’s difficult position in the European market, acknowledging that its current range of electric SUVs has failed to make a meaningful impression on buyers, and that only the return of the iconic small city car can turn things around.
The brand, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely, registered just 1,770 cars in the UK in 2025, an 11 per cent drop compared to the previous year. Ufer, who has worked for Smart for 13 years and was recently appointed CEO, does not shy away from the scale of the challenge. “It’s time to raise our sales and marketing levels; here we can be better and create awareness. To introduce cars from a brand no-one knows in new segments, it’s not easy,” he told Autocar.
A range that blends into the crowd
The core problem, as Ufer sees it, is that Smart’s current lineup of three electric SUVs, the #1, #3 and #5, lacks the distinctiveness needed to stand out in an increasingly crowded market. The brand is competing directly against a wave of Chinese electric SUVs that typically undercut it on price, while Smart’s own models carry premium price tags. The #1 starts at around €38,000 (DKK 286,000), while the flagship #5 costs just under €46,000 (DKK 347,000) and measures 4.7 metres in length, putting it in direct competition with the Tesla Model Y. With few cars visible on European streets, awareness remains dangerously low.
The irony is hard to miss. Smart built its entire reputation on one of the most recognisable cars ever made, a tiny two-seater so culturally significant that it became the first contemporary production car to be exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. That legacy counts for little when the current range looks much like any other electric SUV.
The city car comeback
Ufer is clear that the answer lies in reviving the small car that made the brand famous. A production version of the #2 city car will be unveiled this autumn, and Ufer is already thinking beyond a single model. A full portfolio is being considered, spanning a coupe, a cabriolet, and potentially a stretched variant, covering everything from utilitarian pool cars to premium urban runabouts.
The original ForTwo was famously unprofitable. Analysts at Bernstein calculated that Mercedes-Benz lost $4.6 billion on the model across its first two generations. Ufer acknowledges this directly: “The two-seater was never a car where we made money. Would you start a company today with a two-seater? It’s really challenging.” Building a car of roughly 2.7 metres in length with modern electric architecture is, in his words, “probably the most complex car you can build.”
Despite the difficulty, he sees real commercial potential in reconnecting with the brand’s original customer base, which he describes as a genuine contrast to the SUV range, which is effectively starting from scratch with entirely new buyers.
No hybrids, no detours
Ufer is also firm on what Smart will not do. Despite the #5 being offered with a Geely plug-in hybrid drivetrain in some markets, he has ruled it out for Europe. “If you have an 800-volt system, I’m not sure you really need a hybrid, which is a bridge technology,” he said. The same logic applies to the #6, a hybrid saloon with over 1,000 miles of combined range that will not be coming to Europe either. “We are not sure about that one in Europe, because it’s a hybrid car.”
The European strategy remains fully electric, with the 800-volt architecture and up to 400 kW DC charging on high-specification models positioned as the main technology argument.
Three years to prove the concept
Ufer sets out a clear ambition for the years ahead: grow sales of the existing SUV range, launch the #2 in multiple variants, and establish Smart as one of the fastest-growing fully electric brands in Europe. It is an ambitious target for a brand that has registered just 740 cars in the UK in the first part of 2026 across 32 sales sites. At the peak of the ForTwo era, Smart was selling 10,000 cars per year in Rome alone.
The gap between where the brand is and where it needs to be is considerable. But with a credible small car finally on the way and a CEO willing to speak plainly about the brand’s shortcomings, Smart at least appears to know what the problem is.
