DaimlerBenz is now transferring one of its big mistakes to the US. The company has made a car called the SMART, which has never sold enough to make money. The American and German media are all talking about how the corporation is finally going to “make it profitable” by selling it in the United States, but anyone who has seen one of those cars knows that almost no Americans will buy it. The president of the company, Dieter Zetsche (whose wife barely escaped prison in Michigan and caused a law to be changed), has lived in the US, and he should know that Americans won’t buy a car like that, but he’s continuing with the plan anyway.
The biggest problem with the car is that in this country its small size makes it a deathmobile. The second thing is that you can’t carry anything in it – not even your children.
One automotive writer observed that the car was designed to be parked anywhere. The problem, he says, is that people don’t buy cars to park them; they buy them to carry people and stuff around. He says a VW Polo does a better job for the same money. Here is the article:
forbes.com/columnists/busine … 7/056.html
This week on the radio a commentator was talking about the foolishness of trying to sell the SMART in the US. He said, “The Germans think that when Americans complain about the price of gasoline, it means they want smaller cars. It really just means they want cheaper gasoline.”