smart's Tong Xiangbei: Next Five Years Will Focus on Sales Volume, Not Stacking New Models

From 'Full Lineup' to 'Deep Cultivation': smart's Strategic Pivot

As competition in the new energy vehicle market reaches a fever pitch, most brands are deploying a 'flood the market' tactic to capture market share. smart, however, has chosen a different path. Tong Xiangbei, a senior executive at smart, recently stated clearly that the brand's core strategy for the next five years will no longer center on piling up new models, but rather on driving sales volume — ensuring every existing model gains a solid foothold in its respective market segment.

This stance stands out as notably measured against an industry backdrop where most players are pursuing product matrices that are as broad and comprehensive as possible.

Not Banking on Auto Show Lineups, But on Single-Model Market Penetration

Over the past few years, smart has completed a thorough transformation from a fuel-powered microcar brand to an intelligent electric vehicle brand. Under the joint venture structure between Geely and Mercedes-Benz, smart has successively launched models such as the smart #1 and smart #3, covering the compact SUV and coupe SUV segments while continuously advancing its intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving assistance capabilities.

However, Tong Xiangbei candidly acknowledged that smart's success will not be determined by how many new cars it can display at an auto show, but by whether each model can hold its ground in its segment over the next two to three years. This means the brand will devote more resources to product iteration, user engagement, channel efficiency, and the continuous optimization of its intelligent driving experience.

Intelligence Is the Key Variable for 'Going Deeper'

Notably, when smart talks about 'driving sales volume,' it does not simply mean waging price wars or running dealer promotions. The underlying logic remains closely tied to the deep refinement of intelligent capabilities. Currently, smart models are equipped with a fairly mature intelligent cockpit system and L2-level driving assistance features. As industry trends such as AI large language models in vehicles and urban NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) technology rapidly gain traction, how smart leverages OTA updates to continuously upgrade the intelligent experience of its existing models will become a critical lever for enhancing single-model competitiveness and user retention.

In other words, not stacking new cars does not mean not stacking technology. Enabling existing models to continuously 'evolve' through a software-defined vehicle approach may be one of smart's core strategies for achieving a sales breakthrough.

Industry Implications: 'Fewer but Better' Could Be the New Playbook for the Second Half of the EV Race

smart's strategic choice reflects a broader industry reckoning as new energy vehicle competition enters its second phase. Over the past two years, many brands have found themselves mired in resource waste and mounting losses after spreading their product lines too thin and diluting per-model sales. By contrast, the approach of focusing on core models and going deep in a single market segment has already been validated by certain blockbuster models from Tesla and BYD.

For a brand of smart's relatively boutique scale, a 'fewer but better' strategy may be more pragmatic. Yet the challenges are equally apparent — in an intelligent EV market with an increasingly rich array of choices, consumer attention is extremely fragmented. Sustaining brand visibility and channel operations with only two or three models places extraordinarily high demands on the market performance of each product.

Outlook: The Next Two to Three Years Will Be the Proving Window

Tong Xiangbei's statement effectively sets a clear evaluation cycle for smart: whether its current and upcoming models can deliver convincing sales figures in their respective segments over the next two to three years will determine the success or failure of this strategic direction.

Against the broader backdrop of AI technology accelerating its empowerment of the automotive industry, whether smart can leverage its intelligent differentiation and brand identity to carve out an ecological niche in the fiercely competitive 150,000 to 300,000 RMB intelligent EV market deserves ongoing attention. The confidence to not stack new models must ultimately be validated by the market performance of every single car.