Most carmakers hide a model under patterned vinyl. smart has painted the #2 on walls instead.
The two-seat electric car is appearing through murals in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and Melbourne, with Berlin and Paris next. It will make its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in October.
Each city gets an interpretation. Zhu Bin handled Shanghai, Hong Kong collective Parents Parents took on the car’s compact proportions, Martín Ron painted the Buenos Aires version and Georgia Laurie created the Melbourne mural.
Berlin will bring the campaign closer to the car itself. The Mercedes-Benz Global Design Team, which styled the production #2, will create an installation at the East Side Gallery. French artist Brusk will finish the mural run in Paris before the unveiling.
The artwork confirms that the road-going #2 keeps the compact, rounded shape previewed by Concept #2. More importantly, smart has resisted turning its smallest model into another crossover.
That gives the #2 a clear job. The #1, #3 and #5 have taken smart well beyond the tiny two-seaters that built its name. The #2 brings that original formula back for the electric age.
smart calls it the “halo product” of its line-up, normally a title reserved for something fast, expensive and impractical. Here, it goes to the smallest car in the range.
Calling it the #2 spoils smart’s apparent size ladder, but #0 would sound less like a car and more like a software problem.
Technical details remain under wraps. Battery size, motor output, range, charging speed, dimensions and price have not been announced.
Until Paris, smart is revealing the #2 one brick wall at a time.
