The “Smart” car is too small, too expensive – and too inefficient to attract enough buyers to make it a viable product in the United States. So what do they do? Double down!
Daimler AG will stop selling cars under the Smart brand with combustion engines to focus on electric cars, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing a letter that Mercedes-Benz USA sent to dealerships.
Dietmar Exler, head of Mercedes-Benz USA, said in the letter that the sale of Smart cars with combustion engines would stop in September, the paper reported in its Tuesday edition.
It added that the carmaker would sell battery-powered versions of its Fortwo and Fortwo convertible models.
Daimler was not immediately available for comment.
Mercedes-Benz USA sold 6,211 Smart cars last year.
Both the Smart, and the Tesla are the American Socialist’s wet dreams. And both rely on names that swell the egos of their buyers, to the tune of “ecologically virtuous”. Physics dictates that x-amount of mass transported x-distance will require x-amount of energy, period. No amount of marketing or socialist bullshit can alter the facts of physics. The similar laws of transport-economics also prove that greater numbers of smaller vehicles used to transport the same cargo is much costlier, and less productive in terms of expense of operation. What can be said for personal transport, however, is that it can be more useful and versatile. Again, both the Smart and the Tesla are neither. They are relatively task-specific, and yet represent a major cost-impact on consumers/intended users. Flattering names given to vehicles such as these are all part of the sham, trying to appear to be what they are not.
I guess such little “cars” will have to have very small batteries…. Yeah, that should work out well. Maybe they can put a rack on the back and cut the roof off, and market it as a golf cart.
As for the Teslas and electric BMWs: People who submit to the most indoctrination these days (“education”) tend to be the ones whom the corporate and government world favors with money in exchange for their servitude- so it is only fitting that those who can afford such monstrosities are the same people who want to drive them, and who are willing to finance them, along with the rest of their artificial lives.
T’was watching a video on YT the other night- a guy calculating the true cost of owning his Tesla. He bought it slightly used as a demonstator/loaner- Total cost 80-something grand….with a guaranteed buy-back after a year from Tesla (if he should so desire) of fiddy-something grand! Oh….a $30K depreciation in one year. Yeah…that sounds like a good deal! Who would go for that: The guy who works with his hands and/or runs a successful business or farm; or the guy who is in debt for a few degrees; a house; a few cars; the pizza he bought last night, and who works for Shiny XYZ Corp. or The Department Of Homeland Insanity & Bathtub Control?
I’m noticing a surprising number of tesla and bmw I3 in my tiny town. Maybe it’s just that they stand out but there are several of them.
Those bmw are $45,000!!!
Just checked the website for specs. At the top “Drive a 2016 smart coupe for just $89/month.” That lease price about what I’d pay ($3200) if all it were for was running around the city, much like the discussion yesterday in the post about renting from GM. BTW that was a cut-and-paste from the site, the designer didn’t bother to capitalize Smart, the brand name. Actually a second look at the site and it seems the brand name of the company is a lower case s smart. Hint: If you’re going to be so pretentious as to call your company smart, at least use proper capitalization. It’s what smart people do.
But then check the fuel economy at a paltry 31 MPG in the city and no thanks, I think I’d just get a good bicycle and some good rain gear, which I’d still own after the 36 months is up. TCO is still going to be much higher with needing to find parking, usually higher fuel costs and insurance, Lighten it up and I’m sure it would do much better, but no way would it pass the mandatory crash testing. But all cars have to have to be treated like they’re all going to be doing 80 on the interstates even if they just run in the city.
So instead of replacing the crappy transmissions, lowering the price to a sellable number, doing things to make the mileage better for such a tiny car and the like, they make it electric only. That should get them about 3 sales. How are these stupid people getting into the head office of these companies?
Hi Rich,
By being politically smart… seriously. It’s no longer about catering to the needs of the market. It is about “working with” the government. Instead if earning money by winning customers, you steal money from taxpayers via the government.