2 year backlog on reservations?

[SmartCard]

Originally Posted by Smartdavis

My dealer said they now have enough reservations to last them 26 months and they are hoping production will gear up so that reservation to configuration to delivery could be within the 90-120 days of a typical car order.

I assume your dealer must be extrapolating based on the number of reservations he has and his monthly allocation. I don't think production will ramp up enough to help him out, but hopefully smartusa will boost his monthly allocation. Nationwide it's still probably closer to 1 year.....unless you live on eastern long island, that is!

[SmartCard]

Originally Posted by prm1177

My sources tell me that the French plant is running 2 shifts and is capable of adding a 3rd. If the US response remains consistent, I suspect they will do that and production will increase by 35-50% over what it is now.

capable yes, but as this has been discussed before, French labor and union laws make a third shift very unlikely.

[Smartdavis]

I'm not sure what the range is on allocations for dealers but one of the salespeople told me that Smart was allocating 30 plus per month to them. If that is correct they must have something approaching 1000 reservations holders here in central Norcal (which is a fairly big region including parts of Nevada etc.)

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by SmartCard

capable yes, but as this has been discussed before, French labor and union laws make a third shift very unlikely.

This was confirmed to me by the smart Media Spokesman earlier this week. But not only because of labor laws, mostly because smart is not ready to hire and train an additional workforce at this time. Note that he was specific about the latter, implying that Daimler's headquarters in Stuttgart may change this whenever warranted. Nevertheless, such a decision cannot be implemented on short notice, and training is time consuming.

[meaux61]

18 months worth of reservations according to the midwest regional manager I spoke to yesterday.

M

[Smartdavis]

Imagine the champagne corks that are popping over there at the factory. The first two shifts are calling the shots for now.

[bmx43]

Originally Posted by Smartdavis

Imagine the champagne corks that are popping over there at the factory. The first two shifts are calling the shots for now.

not so much. remember, this car has never made money. it's always lost money. it's a great thing how the US has initially embraced the Smart but nobody knows what the long term outcome will be. maybe the reason for the 2 year warranty is because PAG doesn't want to be on the hook if the brand folds after 2 years. it's been widely publicized that the Smart needs the American market to survive. and since the company has not made money yet, i'd wager that the last thing they want to do is hire on a complete new shift of full-time employees only to be left holding the bag once the initial American demand has been satisfied. we've all heard about how it is very difficult to terminate employment in France.

my personal belief is that the brand will need to make some changes for long term viability in the US, starting with the trans (even though i'm used to it now). it's a good car now. it could be a great car with a little refinement.