Newbie Here "MY Thoughts"

[Hauser]

I feel for those that are still waiting. Afterall I'm in the same boat. My friend however seems to have been shafted by Smart and the assigned dealer. Information is harder than pulling teeth. He is now over the one year mark and no car. The salesman doesn't return his calls. He did find out through Smart USA that his car has been built but no further info is available.

If Smart cannot keep up with demand they should at least keep the customer informed. I for one am very dissapointed in the entire experience.

Germans pride themselves on cetain things but this is one thing that they are not doing well at all.

[mini me]

Guess we could get the Germans to move to France to help build more cars and communicate better :-)

[saronian]

Originally Posted by reschlund

Ford Mo CO, and GM are going to bring back versions of there mini cars once known as the Festivia and Chevette.They will hit the market(09) well before my Smart is even hatched. Both companys are doing there best to put 40+MPG behind there mini cars.

I don't see Ford or GM wanting to compete in the Two Seater car class which is what makes the smart fortwo special. The Toyota Yaris, which is closest in price to the smart, and MINI Cooper get good gas mileage. The Honda Civic and Toyota Prius get outstanding mileage but MINI, Civic and Prius are all above $20K.

I would expect to see Ford and GM bring out cars with a 150"-160" length that have a base engine capable of 40+ mpg on the highway. But offer and sell mostly upscale versions of the same models with higher horsepower engines that get around 30 mpg. Because that is what they do. Give people what they want but make them think they are buying into fuel savings.

Detroit companies wouldn't dare produce a car under 120" with less than 100 horsepower, in quantities of 5,000 per month. They don't believe there's a lasting market for them until fuel approaches $6.00 a gallon. They will never take the lead in economy.

[anthony94114]

Waiting is a drag. Check your local Craigslist or ebay if you can't take the wait. There is usually a decent supply of options between the two, not to mention the orphans at dealers. When MINI arrived in the US, the wait was epic as well. I think part of the issue is that small cars have lousy track records here, yet as each model is released, the throngs of people wanting them outrun the bean-counters greatest estimates.

Regarding the GM and Ford competition, gosh.. I read about cars all day.. constantly updating and I've not heard a peep that GM is going near a small car for the US. They're making the Volt, for 2010, but it will be a pretty big vehicle and semi-electric etc.. Ford MIGHT send us a Ford Fiesta hatch (the 4-door sedan is confirmed), which also would be bigger.. about the size of a MINI Cooper.

The only direct competition for smart in the future would be the Toyota IQ, which has yet to be confirmed for the US market.