Smart Cars Have A Year-Long US Waiting List?

Stuttgart - For most of its 10-year history, Daimler's (DAI) Smart car division has had a reputation for making small cars that lose big money. In 2005 and 2006, Stuttgart-based Daimler recorded more than $3 billion in restructuring costs for the division that produced the diminutive two-seater. Frustrated execs at one point vowed to sell the division or kill the quirky vehicle if they couldn't fix the chronic money loser.

Turns out the Smart may simply have been ahead of its time. Suddenly, Smart sales are soaring, even in the U.S., where the brand has been available since January. Smart USA has sold more than 14,000 cars in the U.S.--about double what Daimler expected--and there is a yearlong waiting list. Worldwide, Smart sales are up 57% this year, to 81,300 vehicles, and Daimler has added shifts at its factory in Hambach, France. Daimler doesn't disclose results for Smart separately, but analysts expect operating earnings of about $75 million on sales of $1.5 billion. The 5% margin compares to about 8% for Mercedes cars as a whole.

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Gas prices only provide a partial explanation for the Smart's surge. True, the Smart, with a three-cylinder engine and colorful plastic body panels, gets great mileage. At 41 mpg on the highway, the Smart is the most fuel-efficient nonhybrid gasoline car on American roads. A diesel version (not available in the U.S.) gets 71 mpg.

But Smart buyers aren't your average penny-pinchers. Many are affluent, design-conscious folks who have seen Smarts during trips to Europe and own at least one other car. To Daimler's surprise, only 5% of U.S. customers choose the $11,590 base model, instead ordering spiffier versions such as the $16,590 convertible. Though some drivers say the Smart feels like a mouse among elephants on the highway, Ron Moreau, a 74-year-old Williamsburg (Va.) resident, says his two Lexus models have hardly left the driveway since he bought a $16,800 Smart Passion in July. "You don't want to be picking your nose while you're driving the car, because everyone's looking," he says.

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Read Steve Parker's blog on the greener future of the auto industry

Comments

[TimmySlagle]

Environmentalists are dying to get there hands on one of these,m because they think owning one, will actually make them smarter.

[DesertLight]

Or make them believe they have real significance now because they are saving the planet. Want to bet G0re will never own one?

[coyote4]

TimmySlagle and DesertLight think posting drivel will actually present themselves as smarter.

not

[TimmySlagle]

Oh, he'll OWN one

The question is, would he ever DRIVE one?

Priuses average about half the annual mileage of other American cars. Which indicates that most people get them, just to park out front, so they APPEAR green.

Gore makes his kids drive them.

[KillTheMessenger]

You still haven't found a girlfriend, Timmy? I am sorry, dear. Maybe next week.

[mosh]

ha ha

[amp27]

It's too bad that GM didn't hold out with it's EV1
Maybe they'll want to bring it back...if they aren't too embarassed for giving up on it

[jsarets]

Each EV1 cost GM $80K to produce. That's why it wouldn't have worked. That's why they only leased them, and that's why they didn't let anyone buy out their lease. They were running a partially-­subsidized field trial, with Clinton's Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles also picking up about $500M of the tab, in preparation for ZEV quota regulations that various state governments were considering at the time. When CARB started getting donations from the fledgling hydrogen lobby (read: oil companies), the EV1 program no longer had a reason to exist.

The technology and economics didn't work for a highway-worthy BEV at the time. We're still talking $35-40K for a basic compact BEV that gets 100 miles per charge. I believe that electrification is the predominant future of personal transportation, but it's just starting to creep into the present, and it was never feasible in the past.

[BearsLeft]

I think they were also facing a $5-7K battery replacement after 4 years of service.

[Cloud7Raymaker]

The EV1 was also hand-built, had it been designed with mass production in mind those cost figures would have been much much lower. It was a good design exercise that GM squandered - yielding the fuel sipper market to Toyota & Honda as well as to vehicles such as the Smart. It is unfortunate GM closed up their R&D operations on the EV1 - the Chevy Volt would have been a good vehicle to have on the market today and likely would be (as the Prius now is) a profit generator in todays market.

[Enid]

The US military is the largest consumer of oil in the US followed by industrial then auto's and trucks.

again just like the US budget issues it focus on a peaces of pie like its the hole pie.

cut military dollar drain, problem solved

[pmag88]

Yeah, I've always wondered why no one ever mentions how much oil it's taken to run these wars, and how that might have played into the rising costs.

thanks

[joebaggadonuts]

Ya. Check out how much influence the CIC has over the price of oil by merely cutting back on training flights, maneuvers and the like and you will see how we are being had.

[KillTheMessenger]

US military consumption accounts for 1.6% of US total. All the F-150's on the road alone are like three or four times that much.

:-)

[mosh]

And what does James Madison, circa 1790ish have to say to us in these hellish times:

Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.

The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals, engendered in both.

No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war, a physical force is to be created; and it is the executive will, which is to direct it.

In war, the honors and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle.

--James Madison, from "Political Observations," April 20, 1795 in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume IV, page 491.

[the964kid]

I've been waiting for the Mercedes made Smart car to be available here since I first saw it in europe in the mid-90s. At that point I was on a rock tour playing some city in Germany, and the only car parked in front of the club we were playing was a Smart car. We had this huge tour bus but couldn't park because of that little Smart car, so some of my bandmates and roadies and I (I think just 6 of us) got around the car and actually fully lifted it off the ground and carried it onto the actual side walk. Our bus driver parked the bus with the Smart next to it on the sidewalk. I was standing outside about 30 minutes later when the Smart's owner came back and looked pretty miffed as he realized what must've happened.

[amp27]

that's a good one

[KillTheMessenger]

6 people lifting 730kg... that's 121 kg each.

Right. Either your roadies have more brain than muscle and don't mind hernias, train for the Olympics weight lifting competition or you just made that story up.

:-)

[Wilburrr]

A roadie can't lift 270 lbs?

[Jackfolsum]

The "Smart'Car doesn't get nearly the milage it claims. After road tests one major car magazine had it's real world MPG at 32.

My collegaue bought one and gets 33MPG. She is very disapointed and feels a Mini would have been a better choice.

[mymatrix]

The mini has a very poor emission ratings which you can see on the government fuel economy website. I chose not to buy it for that reason. The same with Toyota's Scion line. I wonder why Mini and Scion focused on MPG, but not emissions?
The beauty of the hybrids goes well beyond MPG: very little emissions. Emission pollution control systems on modern cars do not operate or operate minimally when the car is cold or idling (think traffic and stops), just when you need it. But, that is exactly when the hybrid has switched to battery, so no emissions.

[mymatrix]

Correcting myself: I just looked at the newer mini coopers, sold in California, and according to EPA's green guide, it now has better air pollution and greenhouse gas ratings. Cars vary by what state they are sold in. The same car sold in Kansas can have poor emission ratings compared to the one sold in California.

[BearsLeft]

I'm starting my 4th year with my Ford Escape Hybrid 4WD that gets 32 MPG City. So far, the best vehicle I've ever owned. I don't understand why you would wait a year to buy a water heater sized car that can barely match the mileage I get when Escape Hybrids are sitting on the lot. Especially if you ever carry several people or anything big or drive in snow and ice.

The Escape Hybrid is also one of the cleanest vehicles on the road with just 10% of the emissions of the Escape V6.

[sheureka]

The real world on mine - after 3000 miles - is 47 mpg.

[texastrixie]

I have nothing against tthe Smart car. However, my husband's co-worker bought one of these at about the same time we bought a plain old Ford Focus. Surpisingly, the Focus is giving us as good gas mileage as the co-worker's Smart car. Don't know why, but numbers seem to jibe. Maybe that we do bit more highway driving than they do with the Smart car.

[BlueZoo]

If I'm going to look ridiculous in a pregnant roller skate for an auto, I'd rather have an APTERA - this thing gets 300 MPG and it's made in the good ol' USA!

[amp27]

WOW. I've never seen anything like that...or heard of it before. They don't include that on the green car websites

[amp27]

The approximate price for the all electric version is $27,000 and the plug-in hybrid $30,000. These prices are subject to change any time before we begin production. This won't start production until late 2008.

Thanks for the head's up

[KillTheMessenger]

The really important question is how many you can make before you go bankrupt? It it's less than a hundred, it might actually become a nice collectible.

:-)

[lisakaz2]

Since gun manufacturers sell conversion kits to skirt limitations, I wonder if there will be kits to make cars much more fuel efficient to get around Big Oil trying to limit cars on this area?

[realityczech4u]

Check the web. There's plenty of them out there. 200 mpg carburetors. Water injectors that let you run your car on 50% h20. Most of them are sold online and they take Paypal. Don't let "Big Oil" keep robbing you at the pump.

[kkmoney]

has anyone tried one of those water conversin things...s­ounds like its a scam and too good to be true: check out this link - http://waterforfuel.zanderboon.com/

[KillTheMessenger]

Did you see my bridge? It comes with a gas station for free use by the owner.

[jamesinraro]

Daimler can not sell this car in Europe because it is seriously dated and there are heaps of superior cars in this category with better build quality that get better miliage, cost less and perform better . A mere 41 mpg in Europe is nothing to boast of. Many cars get over 70 mpg.

[MaverickModerate]

The claims here are pure BS. The Smart is absolutely NOT the "most fuel-efficient nonhybrid gasoline car on American roads". That distinction belongs to the 3 cylinder Geo Metro, many of which are still on American roads today. It is rated at 51 mpg on the highway, besting the smart by 10mpg, AND it seats 4 AND has a sizeable cargo bay as well.

The Smart is not so smart after all. Rather than being titilated with meaningless status symbols like the Smart, the focus should be on getting GM to bring back the real gas mileage champion.

[sagopalm]

I completely agree with you regarding the Geo Metro. GM has a potential cash cow on its hands if it would just bring it back into production.
The Smart Car is not a vehicle I would want to live with. It's cute in its own 'telephone booth' sort of way but I think there are better choices out there. than that. Plus, these cars are overpriced­...they're not exactly giving them away.

[highlyamused]

One question. Where do you put the car seats for the children who have to be in restraints until they're 7 or 70 pounds.
We need to down size our cars and our families..­......but Bush trying to make birth control the same as abortion.
Does anyone ever think these things through???

[zenlikejen]

Not every car is designed for those who need car seats and storage - I'd say think before you buy, honestly. It would make a great second car for *my* family....­.

[KillTheMessenger]

The Smart was never designed as a car for families with kids. Historically the origins come from "Swatch", the guy who brought you that hideous line of "collect them all" plastic watches. It is a response to incredibly tight parking in many old European cities and it really excels at that. These "chairs on wheels" can park like motor cycles on roads which would not even allow to drive a Hummer through.

[liveandlearn]

egalitaire's point to start the thread is that several villains "killed" existing electric cars from most auto manufacturers in california earlier this millennium. watch the documentary "who killed the electric car?"

[Paul]

A friend of mine has one - very cute. Has detachable plastic body panels so you can change the color scheme if you want or fix any scrapes quickly.

But the US gaosline engine milage is not that spectacular.

When do we get the 70 mpg diesel version?

[mono]

When these smart cars out-sold other normal cars or gas guzzlers the price of gas would come down drastically because not much of consumption. There will surplus of oil supply. That's bound to happen. The price of gas will $1.50 or at the most $2.00.

[KillTheMessenger]

What you fail to mention is that millions of Chinese and Indians are eager to get a car. Every drop of oil not used in the US will go to Asia.

Nope. The price of oil is not going to fall because of these.

[AmandaBC]

I don't understand why the CDI model is not available in the US. It gets 70+ mpg on bio-diesel. You can buy one in Canada and the government will even give you a $2000 rebate check for buying an eco-friendly car... Is it maybe because big oil's HQ is currently located in the White House?

http://www.thesmart.ca/index.cfm?id=6638

[smilodon1]

Do you think the Bush misadministration could have anything to do with it? Nah! I'm sure he's working for the good of all of us. Gag! I even managed to get that out with a straight face.

[rextrek]

I got a 2008 Toyota 3dr YARIS hatchbk...­.16K total (tx/tags etc) gets 38-40MPG saving money already...­roomy,driv­es well...and I'd def. recommend it!