Smart 3 vs Omoda 9

What's the difference?

Smart is back.

Not with the classic ForTwo two-seater city car, oddball four-seater ForFour hatch or dinky Roadster targa top. Those were yesterday’s cars.

Today, Smart – as a 50/50 joint-venture between Germany’s Mercedes-Benz (the brand’s originator) and China’s Geely – is all about SUVs. Electric SUVs.

The boxy #1 (pronounced “hashtag-one”) is a small SUV and the sleeker #3 is the coupe-esque performance crossover version. Both are made in China and use Geely technologies.

We take a long, hard look at the range-topping #3 Brabus, the speediest, sexiest and exxiest of the lot. Let’s go.

Does Australia need yet another new car brand?

It’s the question I keep asking myself seemingly every other week as a new brand announces its intention to join the other 70 odd marques already competing for a slice of the Australia new-car market.

Chery made a successful re-entry into the Australian market in 2023, quickly establishing itself as a value-led brand. Earlier this year it launched Jaecoo, its more premium, adventure-focused offering and announced it would be spun-off into separate showrooms alongside the new Omoda brand.

The first Omoda-badged vehicle has now arrived, the Omoda 9 Virtue SHS (Super Hybrid System), which will join the almost-as-new Jaecoo J7 and J8 in the growing number of dealers around Australia.

So, does Australia need Omoda? Does the Omoda 9 Virtue SHS make a compelling case, in the same way the sharply-priced Chery models have? 

Read on for our verdict.