Originally Posted by Detroit Free Press 12/06/2007
BRAINS OVER BRAWN: Daimler's Smart car set to go on sale next month
WASHINGTON -- Daimler AG's Smart car will go on sale in the United States next month with orders for more of the gas-sipping minicars than Daimler can build next year.
Daimler Chairman and CEO Dieter Zetsche said Tuesday that more than 30,000 Americans have paid a $99 deposit to buy one of the 1,800-pound two-seat vehicles that get 40 miles per gallon on the highway. The automaker expects to convert 90 percent of those deposits to sales.
"We were totally amazed by the kind of reaction we got," Zetsche said at a breakfast with reporters. "We will not be able to meet the demands here next year."
... A person ordering a vehicle now might be able to get one in late 2008 or 2009, but customers should check with dealerships to see if there are cancellations, Schembri said.
As for Smart, I believe that production will be increased and very likely they are trying to ramp it up now, BUT there are limits. The factory has only so much equipment and you can't build a bigger factory overnight. The dies and tooling takes time to make and personal has to be trained.
IF production is not running 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. They could increase production by adding an extra shift of people. However, this takes time to hire and train the people.
Bob Diaz
As I understand it, the difficulties in increasing production at Hambach isn't the size of the factory or the equipment. The problem is that they've reached their limit with a two-shift arrangement. Putting on a third shift means an increase of over 30,000 cars per year. The US could probably absorb about 10,000 of those, so they need to have a market for another 20,000 units and they're not sure they have it. The strength of the French unions means that they will only put on a third shift if they're certain they need that extra supply long term. This information comes from someone who seemed to me as being pretty reliable.
The maximum cadence of the plant is 580 cars per day with two shifts, a level this plant was at in 2003, but the day we were there, the production target was 384 units (2005). The minimum time between cars arriving at any one point in the assembly line is 1 minute 30 seconds, but on October 11th, it was 2 minutes 10 seconds. When the cadence is accelerated, more workers are required.
Okay boys, lets pick up the cadence! I can hear the drummer now!
Assuming they work 300 days per year, thats 150,000 cars annually.
It seems strange that they are still saying 30,000 reservations have been made. They have been saying this for some time. Does that mean they initially overstated the number or does it mean no one else has reserved in the last month? Check out the cover of the newest issue of Forbes there is a smart on the cover, and that is not even a car magazine. We got in a discussion about the cover at work and 5 of 5 people had never even heard of ia smart. Once they heard my tale they all seemed interested. I think this will continue to grow, remember the hoola hoop and racoon hat not to mention the pet rock. This could be the next big thing.
It seems strange that they are still saying 30,000 reservations have been made. They have been saying this for some time. Does that mean they initially overstated the number or does it mean no one else has reserved in the last month?
The reason we keep hearing 30,000 is that all the reporters are quoting from the same old news conference. There are other stories. Read this one. 34,500 in late October.
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