Yet another Chinese carmaker has fallen victim to the ongoing electric vehicle price war, and the latest one is smart. The joint venture between Geely and Mercedes-Benz has slashed prices of itsSUVs to better compete with the likes of BYD and Tesla, which have also engaged in the race to the bottom.
Meanwhile, the #3 range has been reconfigured and now features a shorter-range Standard base model at 164,900 yuan . This takes over from the 209,900 yuan long-range Pro+, which has been renamed the Dynamic Long Range and is now priced at 184,900 yuan . Mechanically, the #1 and #3 are identical to before, powered by a single rear motor that produces 272 PS and 343 Nm of torque. This gets the #1 from zero to 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds, while the #3 is somehow much quicker – it takes nearly a second out of the century sprint, which it completes in 5.8 seconds .
As ever, there are two battery sizes available. The smallest 49 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery provides a range of 400 km on the #1 Standard and 415 km on the #3 Standard; both figures are on China’s lenient CLTC cycle. There’s also a 66 kWh nickel manganese cobalt battery that delivers a range of 535 km on the #1 Long Range and Deluxe, 555 km on the #3 Dynamic Long Range and 520 km on the Dynamic AWD.