'Orphan' Smart cars pile up as buyers back out

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by jonnysan

And all the "last minute Hanna's" will be crying the blues when the prices shoot back up....bet on it!

Yup, people sold their trucks when gas prices went up, then bought another truck when the prices went down. They complain now that they're upside down in the loan. When will people take on a 5-10 year vision? Gas prices will trend upwards, always. Buy what you want, but moreso what you can afford. If gas price doubling puts you at risk of bankruptcy, don't buy a 10MPG pickup. Live within your means, people, not beyond them. 70% gives you a buffer zone.

[Orphan-Beggar]

Originally Posted by SuperGeek

Which is why they have a moral obligation (yes, loosely defined in media) to report accurately. When the industry average time to sell is 95 days and the Smart sells in 28 days, how in the living hell is that "piling up?"

Media. So easy to manipulate. And they have so many willing to read the inaccuracies, to panic on "news" of a doomed economy. What causes stock markets to drop? Panic from news. What causes people to hoard money, not buy a house, etc? News panic. One reporter repeats something inaccurate from someone else, and the chain reaction is all it takes to cause a widespread panic.

Agreed-
When I tell women that their shoes are "piling up", they take offense.

Originally Posted by fpage77

I prefer quality over quantity. The biggest isn't always the best.

The biggest may be the worst

[RACNXTG3]

Originally Posted by Big Panda

Two issues;First, the media is NOT helping our economy by posting all this 'doom and gloom' crap. Just report the facts....stock market is up/down/even, etc. Stop this comparing and speculating.

Second, many of the smarts on the smart center lots today are NOT "orphans', but rather just part of smartUSA's monthly allocation to dealers that started in '09.

Yes, sales are down in the automotive industry and smart is no different, but to say that smart center lots are 'piling up' due to customer cancelations is just not accurate.

the media just got OWN3D...lol

[Hestel]

I know here in Raleigh the dealer has a several Orphans on the lot. Where a few months ago they were hard to find. But as the local Toyota deal is now selling package 5 Prius' that when for 30k nine months ago for 22k, and have 30-40 on the lot....

I know of a couple people who traded in minivans and SUV's for prius'. When the toyota dealer is give 15k trade in value and negotiating on the price of the prius... Where as the smart dealers won't even discuss the price, other than to tell you what it is.

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by Hestel

I know here in Raleigh the dealer has a several Orphans on the lot. Where a few months ago they were hard to find. But as the local Toyota deal is now selling package 5 Prius' that when for 30k nine months ago for 22k, and have 30-40 on the lot....

I know of a couple people who traded in minivans and SUV's for prius'. When the toyota dealer is give 15k trade in value and negotiating on the price of the prius... Where as the smart dealers won't even discuss the price, other than to tell you what it is.

Toyota has to get rid of their old Prius' or they will be stuck with them. Their new model with even better mpg is on the way. At the same time Hondas new insight is going to take a big bite out of that market at a better cost.
I bet the Toyota dealers are realy hoping Gas prices go up again soon
My local dealer has 106 New prius' on the lot
Smart Motors - Madison area Scion Toyota dealer in Madison Wisconsin. Janesville Toyota parts dealer. Wisconsin Dells Toyota dealer cars parts, Dane County Toyota Scion dealer cars parts, Monroe WI Toyota Scion dealer cars parts, Rock County Wisconsi
and 7 Used still going for $20K +
Smart Motors - Madison area Scion Toyota dealer in Madison Wisconsin. Janesville Toyota parts dealer. Wisconsin Dells Toyota dealer cars parts, Dane County Toyota Scion dealer cars parts, Monroe WI Toyota Scion dealer cars parts, Rock County Wisconsi

[MB DNA]

The recent USA Today article is just more spin on a smart business model where an automaker created a novel delivery system that created demand and a delivery pipeline of one year.


This gave the dealers no inventory to floor (pay carrying costs on) but rather a monthly drop of cars to deliver to anxious smart customers. All of this created the perfect storm when gas prices were high, everyone was employed and loans were readily available.

Today many folks who put up a $99 deposit have maxed out their credit cards, are unemployed or in fear of losing their jobs and maybe even their home. Their trade-in is worth less and with the financial meltdown they may not qualify for a loan. Gas prices are down so that new smart becomes an orphan, an orphan of THE ECONOMY!

For sake of comparison, isn’t that 150+ day supply of new cars sitting in inventory at your local Ford, GM and Chrysler dealer really a gathering of orphans looking for a home? Does your local Ford, GM or Chrysler dealer have a backlog of 30,000 orders to fill – NO. Honda dealers are sitting on huge inventories (orphans) and even Toyota can no longer command huge premiums for the Prius as they too have a backlog (more orphans) with a new model coming.

So what has changed is that a small percentage of smart orders are becoming orphans (dealer inventory) and thus some smart dealers have a small 28 day supply of product available for the walk-in customer who doesn’t want to wait a year. Good news, in this economy the likelihood of a smart dealer adding bling to an orphan and a huge mark up should be over.

Newsflash – We do not have an endless supply of oil/gasoline and our source of supply is by in large regulated by less than friendly countries!

Gas prices will go back up as early as this summer and while we may not see smart pandemonium, IMHO there will remain a niche for our smart.

Top back, gotta go!

[GmacDiesel29]

Wow, that's media for you..
People aren't "backing out, and demanding not to take the smart" alot of people are having a hard time getting financed, or the timing is not right because of everything going on around us!

Hence, no credit check when you put down your $99 deposit.. It's amazing how media critizes something they just gave credit to in the past couple of months..

Oh, for the record, our dealership is about to have one of the strongest months since we have been open!
People leave us with an orphan and someone right behind them to scoop one up!

What a way throw a great manafacture under the bus!

[gstreetcomic]

I can vouch for that. My best friend got a job working at a Dodge dealer and lasted one month due to his not selling any cars while he was there. People were not coming in to buy cars unless they were internet sales and they were only going to one person. We drove by that lot recently and accoriding to him not a thing was moving.
So to say that Smart has cars stacking up. What a joke, ever see the big threes lots? At least Smart is fairing the not so nice times, and oh yeah gas will go back up and so will the demand for these cars.

Originally Posted by SmartDigger

How long is it taking a domestic ( big 3 ) car to sell? I bet much longer than 28 days. I know most dealers around here are laying off sales people. I know 2 of the biggest dealers in Mansfield only sold 7 new autos combined last month.

[sharonlee]

I know the smart is not selling like gangbusters here in Michigan. I never see another one on the road any more except for one white one parked on nine mile road that has been for sale for a while. Way back when I bought my Omni there were so many of them that I once got into the wrong car in a parking lot.

[gniwok]

[quote=Big Panda;214464]Two issues;First, the media is NOT helping our economy by posting all this 'doom and gloom' crap. Just report the facts....stock market is up/down/even, etc. Stop this comparing and speculating. QUOTE]

Originally Posted by SuperGeek

Media. So easy to manipulate. And they have so many willing to read the inaccuracies, to panic on "news" of a doomed economy. What causes stock markets to drop? Panic from news. What causes people to hoard money, not buy a house, etc? News panic. One reporter repeats something inaccurate from someone else, and the chain reaction is all it takes to cause a widespread panic.

I have a slightly different suggestion... DON'T read the news! At all! Seriously! Don't read, watch on tv, or download any news at all for at least a month and see how your stress level drops!

I experimented with this about a year ago and tried it for a month. No news at all. Nothing more than the neighborhood rag you get for free at the strip mall, filled with little league stories and such. Nothing about world news, politics, business... at all! I didn't read it, watch it or download it for a solid month. After the initial shock of "not knowing what was going on out there", I started to realize that if I couldn't fix it, why would I worry about it?

I also started to notice the high stress in all my friends who were still following the news regularly. The news totally ruined their days. And at the same time, they criticized me for not following the news any longer! I likened that to sticking a pencil in their arms and through the pain, asking me why I wasn't doing it with them!

Segway this into the smart world... I never even knew the smart existed because the news of it didn't come to me. I fell in love with the smarts when I first saw them darting about. Again, instead of going to the news for my information, I just did my research on it at the source and that's why I bought it!

I say the USA Today is like every other news source in America... it gets the same data as the NYTimes and is 95% editorialized by newspeople there on the floor who all share much different opinions of this country than I do. Those opinions affect the lives of everyday people who choose to get worried and stressed with the doomsday information they absorbed, and it doesn't make sense to me.

I say if I can't fix it... I ain't gonna worry about it.


~Jas...