will there be increased production

[Smartdavis]

I keep thinking they need a Smart for three. Something like the Toyota IQ concept. Shove the passenger seat all the way forward and you get a very small seat in the back (kid sized). Just being able to say you can squeeze three into the car would greatly expand the market IMHO.

[mike-in-sa]

Expand the market? There is a two year wait. They are selling in China soon. How much longer would you like to wait for a smart car?

[rawlus®]

trying to be everything to everyone is a sure way to kill the brand. better to focus on being the best at what you are. 2-seater economy, eclectic, unexpected, value, design, etc. a 4-seater or suv smart is a stupid idea.

[Smartdavis]

but we are talking about capitalists and balance sheets and stock prices and the ever increasing need to increase annual profit ....if you build it they will come....

[mike-in-sa]

We are talking about the French. If you hire him, you can't fire him. They like long vacations in August. They have lost money every year until '08. They are in no hurry to expand. My guide at the factory put it this way.."We will make 600 cars a day and the rest of the world can sort out where they go"

[Smartdavis]

Good point..and with the whole world headed toward recession it does seem like there would be little incentive to rock the boat. Why would the French want to work hard with all that good wine to drink. However, the parent company might have other ideas. All you need is a second plant somewhere else.

[mrbadexample]

Originally Posted by RedDogInCan

Now that oil has dropped below $100/barrel, the impetus for buying small fuel efficient cars will decline. Expect to see a significant number of reservations cancelled in the next 6 months and a flood of orphans.

ummmm...that's quite a "shallow" comment/thought, doesn't hold much water. i ordered my smart 18 months ago, as did many others, and not for fuel economy reasons. when i ordered my smart, i had a '98 metro with a 3 cylinder, one liter engine with 34,000 miles on it.

i would have ordered the smart instead of the metro, if it was available then. the price of gas doesn't bother me, i like the smart! (i spend about $5 a day on beer, my gas tab is about $2 a day, now if someone could reduce the price of hops!)

[F150SC]

Mercedes Benz and Penske did not open a dealership network for a measely 15000 units a year market, I think they really planned to sell 28000 units in 2008 after all.
I am convince they would sell close to 40000 in 2009, and average waiting time will be less than a year. Today I did my second test drive at Riverside Smart , I used full automatic this time, it was smooth , so I made up my mind, it will be a Red Passion coupe when it is time to configure, hopefull within 6 months.

[Keshyathree]

Hi all of you fans,

Here some remarcks to help you, as always, that's are my private tell and is not an official answer smartside.

1/ Fortwo, forThree, Forfour, Formore, what else ?

As the succes of the fortwo was ongoing, it was already thought that we should expand our models possibility. We expand with roadstertype named "roadster coupé", a four seated called "forfour", and we had even plan a sort of SUV built in south america (plant was already ready, suppliers hired...) called formore.

But we never meet the same succes....why ?
It is really the 100 bucks question.

Roadster came at a time where all this kind of car in europe have seen their sales going deeply down.

Forfour : Fouseated market is very competitive one, there are lot of possibility to already some very good cost, good consumption, good designe. What should be the avantage of a smart one... we saw we didn't have the enswer.

Formore : was died before born, because we realize it was really a bad way.

And then we take the curve, we focus on what smart is recognize for the "fortwo" models. And it is still plan we focus on it.

Why not producing a car like the IQ, one of the big argue for us is the security and even if we can pass what is required in crash test, we don't see it as sufficient to sell it.
Can you imagine that for those who are back seated, theay are directly crashed (rearcrash). IQ want to solve it with a special rear-airbag, but I don't think it will be enough.


2/ More in production, yes or no ?

Of course we are very pleased from the succes of our car, of course we would like to produce more. In fact we have some possibility.

A small increase can be done threw works on saturday, more hours, increase the speed of the production line and some other increase in efficient production.

But after that you reach a limit... to bypass it you need

- a third shift model.
- or a week-end shift model.
- or a new line.

Eachone means a big invest, and time to do it. So you can easily understand why daimler is taking time to decide.


So to resume, of course we will do our best to reduce your delay and increase the US quantity, but not at any cost and not without thinking on a long way thinking.


K

PS: alone for the fortwo model, break event was reached long long time ago, but due to all these lost invest, smart in totall only reach the break event last year...

[JPaul]

Thank you Keshyathree! Nice to hear it from the horse's mouth... even if/more from "behind the scene".
C'est tout bon!