Picking up a Smart in Hambach?

[Suze]

Does anybody know if it's possible to take delivery at the factory in France?

It would be fantastic to take a European road trip in a new Smart, then have it shipped home.

I know other companies do this, but what about Smart?

Suze

[jwight]

Have seen nothing on it from PAG at all. Mercedes certainly has an overseas delivery program but I don't believe it includes smart. Would be neat if they added it in the future.

[Carnut]

Originally Posted by notsobadyathink

Does anybody know if it's possible to take delivery at the factory in France?

It would be fantastic to take a European road trip in a new Smart, then have it shipped home.

I know other companies do this, but what about Smart?

Suze

From what I read, smart doesn't offer any factory tours to individuals, only groups. The Canadian club is having a trip their later this spring. You cannot take delivery at this time since PAG has the USA configured smarts exclusively.

[mike-in-sa]

Tours are not advertised but I know several people who just showed up and were shown around the factory. I did this 3 weeks ago. Stuberman is over there now. Several people from the canadian site have done this. It is well worth the time. From what I gathered from my trip was that they didn't want a bus load of 50 or 60 people showing up unanounced. One or two people are easy to take care of if they are flexible on their time. I had to wait a few hours for a PR person to finish her shift and then she took time to walk me thru the factory. They seem really happy and proud that Americans want to see the factory. They do not have a pick-up program at the factory for usa cars, but she said that they may offer a program to US military to sell USA 451 that they can ship back.

[kmeinhold]

MB cars are delivered in Sindelfingen (even when a car is assembled at another plant) its a great tour and experience that is probably cost prohibitive across all plants (including Hambach). Sill I think would be enjoyable even for a smart car euro delivery program in Sindelfingen.

[flpat]

she said that they may offer a program to US military to sell USA 451 that they can ship back.

That would be great but think you have to be on at least 30 day orders. We always see minis and Harleys that the military can do in Germany.

[Westfield 11]

Unless you are going solo, the big drawback would be the limited luggage space. It would be difficult to pack the needed stuff for two for a week or more into a smart. At least it would be for us, and no way would you be able to get both luggage and purchases too. Not that it would be impossible, but would you really want to tour Europe as if you were backpacking the Apalacian Trail? Now if you got a pair of cars that might work, or one of those cool trailers......

[BigWarpGuy]

I guess the Fortwo would be great to 'back pack' around Europe. I assume they have cloths washer and dryers? Traveling light might be an experience in itself and one could ship home any thing that one has bought bigger than can fit into the Fortwo? It would be great to see the photos and videos of that adventure.

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by Westfield 11

Unless you are going solo, the big drawback would be the limited luggage space. It would be difficult to pack the needed stuff for two for a week or more into a smart. At least it would be for us, and no way would you be able to get both luggage and purchases too. Not that it would be impossible, but would you really want to tour Europe as if you were backpacking the Apalacian Trail? Now if you got a pair of cars that might work, or one of those cool trailers......

Have your minions follow with your kit
karl

[mike-in-sa]

I think it would be great to tour around europe in your own smart. We travel light anyway. Most big hotels will let you store stuff if you are coming back. French laundrimats are the hardest to figure out. You would save a lot of money in a smart.