What's Inside smart's New Tiny Concept EV?

smart, a joint venture between German Mercedes-Benz and Chinese Geely, has debuted two new cars at its Global Brand Event held in Beijing.

The smart Concept #2 previews the “reinvention” of the brand's iconic two seater. This concept has been revealed ahead of the premiere of the smart #2 later in 2026, which is focused on the European market. 

The company also announced the smart #6 EHD, its first-ever premium fastback sedan which is a hybrid. However, the vehicle is set to only be released in China.

The smart Concept #2

The current Concept #2 vehicle is not offered for sale, but it builds on smart’s announcement in September of 2025 that the company is going to offer an all-electric two-seater, with the international premiere planned for late 2026 “with Europe defined as a key region”. 

The smart #2 concept car is styled by the Mercedes-Benz Global Design Team. Concept cars can influence future production models and can be seen as a way for companies to gauge the public's reaction to the product.

Wolfgang Ufer, CEO of smart Europe, says: “For me personally, it is a very special moment to present the smart Concept #2 as the first concrete outlook on the reinvention of our iconic two-seater.

"The Global Brand Event marks an important starting point for this new chapter of smart, which will culminate in a strong peak in Europe this autumn.”

In a press release, smart says that with the Concept #2, the brand “envisions” an electric range of up to nearly 300 kilometres and DC fast-charging that “would” charge from 10% to 80% power in under 20 minutes. 

Real-world testing of smart #2’s electric compact architecture began in December of 2025. 

smart confirmed that the world premiere of the production model smart #2 is planned to take place in Paris, France in October of 2026.

smart's focus on Europe 

The smart #2 car is set to be focussed on Europe.

Some European carmakers have cut models, revised production of EVs and recorded write-downs related to them. Carmakers have often cited not as strong as expected sales as the reason. 

However this trend appears to be changing. In the first quarter of 2026, 546,937 new battery-electric cars were registered, capturing 19.4% of the EU market share, according to statistics published by ACEA. This is compared to 15.2% in previous year. 

Growing EV registrations in 2026 could be driven by rising fuel costs associated with the US and Israel’s war with Iran.

Why is the smart #6 EHD only being released in China?

The #6 EHD released by smart was also created by the Mercedes-Benz Global Design Team. It made its premiere at the Global Brand Event 2026 and it will be launching exclusively in China. 

The company described it as a premium fastback sedan with advanced long-range Electric Hybrid Drive technology. It delivers a 1,810 km range.

China is the world's largest EV market. The Global EV Outlook 2025, issued by the IEA, shows that electric car sales in China increased by almost 40% year-on-year in 2024, further driving up the country's share of global electric car sales. 

According to the ICCT, from 2021 to 2024, the share of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in new passenger car sales grew from 3% to 19% in China. smart's new #6 EHD is a PHEV. 

The Chinese EV maker Geely’s new energy vehicle sales accelerated sharply in 2025, reaching 1,687,767 units, up 90% year on year. As a term, new energy vehicles often incorporate all BEVs, PHEVs and FCEVs under one umbrella. 

One EV, the Geely Xingyuan, exceeded 40,000 monthly sales for seven consecutive months in 2025, with cumulative sales surpassing 530,000 units. 

Positioning a car to be launched just for the Chinese market looks to build on Geely's, and EVs more broadly, massive success there.