SINGAPORE – Multi-franchise motor group Cycle & Carriage (C&C) has clinched the rights to sell Smart cars in Singapore.
Smart is an electric vehicle (EV) brand co-owned by Chinese automotive group Geely and German carmaker Mercedes-Benz.
The deal comes less than a year after the listed Singapore-headquartered group secured the franchise for Chinese EV brand Ora, and barely a week after privately owned Audi agent Premium Automobiles announced that it landed the franchise for Zeekr, another Chinese brand owned by Geely.
The other Geely-owned brands here are Lotus, Polestar and Volvo, which are represented by Malaysian-owned Wearnes Automotive.
In a statement on Jan 4, C&C said it will start with the Smart #1 – a small crossover – in the first half of 2024.
“We are excited about the product offerings that Smart brings, which fit in perfectly to meet the growing demand for EVs in Singapore,” said C&C Singapore managing director Wilfrid Foo.
“With Smart’s strong expertise and experience in product design, development, and operations, we are confident that Smart will do well in Singapore.”
The Smart showroom will be housed on level 3 of C&C’s facility at 301 Alexandra Road. It will be ready by the third quarter.
In the meantime, C&C plans to conduct roadshows to garner bookings for the car.
Smart started out 25 years ago as a micro-car made for congested cities. It was then a venture between Swiss watchmaker Swatch and Mercedes-Benz.
Except in a few European cities, micro-cars have generally been met with lukewarm consumer response.
In Singapore, the first Smart cars were confined to a small number brought in by parallel importers. According to Land Transport Authority statistics, there were 14 Smart cars in Singapore as at end-2022.
The new and substantially bigger models made with Geely may, however, prove more popular. The Smart #1 is about the size of the Toyota Yaris Cross, and shares parts with the new Volvo EX30.
Volvo Cars is another Geely brand.
The Smart #1 was launched in Malaysia in the fourth quarter of 2023, with prices starting from RM189,000 (S$54,000), or about the price of a Honda Accord saloon there.
The Accord, which sold out in November, was last priced at around $260,000 – when its certificate of entitlement was $135,336 – in Singapore.
Smart is one of several Chinese electric car brands landing in Singapore in 2024, joining early movers such as BYD and MG.
Commenting on this development, Mr Say Kwee Neng, a motor industry consultant, said: “The proliferation of Chinese EV brands in Singapore can only be a good thing. China is the dominant EV market in the world, and its brands represent the leading edge in technology and design for EV cars today.”
