Autoline Detroit - Speed Channel

[Smarteq]

Did anyone see Autoline Detroit this week. The whole half hour was on the smart car. The host wasn't too complimentary of the smart. They toured the smart USA headquarters which is quite modest. It looks basically just like a smart dealership. They talked about how lean the company is - HQ only has about 20 employees. Dave called the dealerships "Delivery Centers".

Dave talked about the fact that they were taking orders long before the dealers were chosen. That way they were able to put the dealers where the demand came from. They assumed that there would be demand in some of the major cites buy were surprised by the demand in the middle of the country and some small town areas - areas where big cars and SUVs are very popular. I think Dave mentioned 30,000 plus orders but didn't give out any production numbers. He did give a bit of a positive spin when answering the question on what people are saying about the transmission.

[Jeff Newcum]

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/autoline/

[smartfloridadad]

I saw the show also,1st time I've ever seen the entire show on one car

[E-SMART]

so others outside of Detroit could see it. Overall, I thought it was OK but the host missed a good point Dave was trying to make. Daimler learned (the hard way) that they need to concentrate on the fortwo in the short-term (which according to the latest sales numbers seems to be working) so I don't know if I agree that this will fade out within 2 to 3 years but who knows. Niche vehicles typically don't have a good long-term track record (i.e., New Beetle, PT Cruiser, etc.) but sometimes they do (the MINI and to some degree the Miata). It really depends on whether our smart will have enough appeal to invite other mfg's (the Toyota iQ, etc.) to come in and then it will need to be that much better than what the competition has (for those that remember, the last gen Toyota MR2 'vert was supposed to knock-out the Miata, Miata (now referred to as the MX5) survives but the MR2 is gone).

Last note: did you happen to catch how they broke out sales regions? very interesting!

[tbranca]

Don't forget the 1950's & 60 's VW Bug was a hit then and still is today.

[jonnysan]

Did you catch the part near the end where Dave Schembri commented on the interviewer's perception of the transmission and the different way it shifted? He said right out that he monitors the internet blogs daily to get a feel for owners experiences, stating that they have found the differences in this transmission, to what most are familiar with, to be more and more positive as time goes on.
I must admit that I had reservations about it before owning the car but have none whatsoever now that the transmission and I have learned how to drive it.
John

[E-SMART]

Originally Posted by tbranca

Don't forget the 1950's & 60 's VW Bug was a hit then and still is today.

Here is a good link on its history . . . not sure on the specific sales numbers but please note at the end

'Of course, New Beetle sales have cooled since the mania that occurred when the car first went on sale, but the car has undeniably been a hit for VW. Will it be as big a hit as the original Beetle was? Check back with this site in the year 2063 to find out if the new Beetle is still in production some place with more than 21 million of them having been produced.'

http://www.edmunds.com/volkswagen/ne...e/history.html