New heroes for everyday life – 2024 Smart City-Crossover

A vehicle class of its own has long since developed from the niche between small cars and compact sedans. The demand for City-Crossover is still increasing — and the manufacturers are reacting. These are the most important innovations of the next two years.

Let's be honest: a VW Golf already offers more than most people need to drive a car. Basically, this even applies to the Polo, apart from the somewhat tight luggage space. But, and neither can deny that, they are just conventional hatchback sedans, but the trend is towards SUVs. That is why there is no longer any way around concepts such as the T-Cross at VW for all volume manufacturers. More space than in the Polo, but more compact and slightly higher than the Golf and not more expensive. Under the sheet metal largely the same technology, cost-driving all-wheel drive does not have to be, at best as an option. It is important to have everyday-relevant equipment with contemporary connectivity and modern comfort and safety extras — the typical city crossover is ready. With no frills, Nissan and Mini were the pioneers in this segment with Juke and Countryman 2010, Renault Captur, Opel Mokka and Peugeot 2008 were the first to follow suit. And others like Toyota are only now jumping on the already well-occupied train with the Yaris Cross. While some, such as VW, Skoda and Seat, consider electrified drives in this class to be unnecessary, others, such as Hyundai or Kia, already have mild hybrids with a 48-volt starter generator or battery-electric drive in their product range. Even complex plug-in hybrids are finding their way, such as the Renault Captur and Jeep Renegade. However, such a crossover costs well over 30,000 euros. But at the other end of the price spectrum, most models start at around 20,000 euros, sometimes well below that.

SMART SUV

More than 15 years ago, Smart announced the Formore, an SUV, which, however, fell victim to the change in strategy to focus entirely on the Fortwo. A lot has changed since then: Smart, a joint venture between Mercedes and Geely since the end of 2019, has only been building electric cars since 2020. A new chapter of the brand will begin in China next year: Geely develops and produces, Mercedes contributes the design. Based on the scalable SEA electric platform from Geely, the first model to be created is a compact SUV in four-meter format, which, in terms of design, says goodbye to the tridion cell that has been typical of the brand until now. But it should stay smart, a digital key for opening the doors and voice control are part of the basic scope. In addition, the Geely platform promises high charging performance and a WLTP range of around 500 km.