PARIS MOTOR SHOW: smart's local future unclear

The new ForTwo and Forfour promise to be better cars – but can they be cheaper too?

The third generation smart range made its motor show debut in Paris overnight, but the chances of the new ForTwo and reborn ForFour making it to Australia hang on "robust" negotiations that should be resolved one way or another by the end of 2014.

The Mercedes-Benz-owned city-car brand has been financially problematic globally and a misfire in Australia, where just 67 have been sold to the end of August 2014.

However, the new triple-cylinder, rear-drive, two and four-seat smarts, which were first shown to media in Berlin last July, shape up as a significant improvement compared to their predecessors, which is a key reason Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific is still trying to make a difficult business case work.

Read full article here. 

smart parking in Paris

You can see fortwos on lots of street corners of Paris, parked where not many other vehicles can fit. The Renault Twizy and Fiat 500 can do the same. This fourfour I spotted is actually resting on the bumper of the fortwo behind it.

Liverpool Fab Four

A smart forfour spotted outside the former Liverpool College of Art,68 Hope Street, Liverpool, once attended by John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe.

Tiny Smart car to get redesign -- but not until 2014

The Smart ForTwo, the smallest car for sale in the U.S. and one of the older models in the market, will finally get a redesign, Automotive News reports.

Just one problem: The new one won't show up until 2014. Until then, Mercedes-Benz, which took over U.S. distribution of its Smart in July, will have to make do.

Daimler, Mercedes' German parent, is going to develop the next two-seat Smart in conjunction with Renault, which has to find a replacement for its own tiny car, the Twingo [shown above]. Renault is a French company and the Smart is built at a plant in France.

The Smart is an ingeniously engineered little car that has gone basically unchanged for more than a decade. Before it was the Smart car, it was the Swatch car, named for the Swiss watchmaker. It has been imported into the U.S. for about three years through Penske Automotive, and now Mercedes. Mercedes has launched the first national ad campaign for the car. Lately, it has been getting more competition, too. Toyota is introducing the Scion iQ, and the Fiat 500, Mini Cooper and others also compete in the smallest-car segment.

Smart is also hinting at a new four-seat model, which won't show up until 2015. Smart made a four-seater previously, but killed it due to slow sales. Penske had one in the works in a deal with Nissan, but killed it when Mercedes took over the brand.

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Renault-Nissan and Daimler to cooperate on new cars

Franco-Japanese Nissan and German giants Daimler form partnership to develop new cars and share engines.
By Andrew English - Telegraph.co.uk

A common replacement for the Renault Twingo, the Smart Fourtwo and a new four-seat Smart model will be the first results of a cooperation and share-swap deal signed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler this week.
They will swap a symbolic 3.1 per cent stakeholding in each other to seal the deal, which will see the joint development of small cars as well as diesel and petrol engines.
At the top end of the model ranges Daimler will give Nissan's Infiniti prestige brand access to its four- and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, but both companies stressed that the deal will not dilute the image of their brands. Infiniti's efforts to launch itself in Europe have been hindered by its lack of turbodiesels.
"Each brand has its own identity and its own kind of products and its own cost and price level," said Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan chief executive. "We need to keep each brand very different from the others."
Read full story here.

smart spotting in Europe

On a three week tour in Europe we spotted countless smart fortwos, 6 roadsters, 1 crossblade and 20 smart forfours. Produced at the NedCar factory at Born, Netherlands between April 2004 and June 2006, the forfour shares some 50% of its components with the Mitsubishi Colt still in production there. We took photos of these examples at Gibraltar[above]; Seville, Spain [below]; and the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimão, Portugal [bottom].

Smart’s ForTwo is ready to grow!

Extra doors and seats make favourite an A1 competitor
Near-identical Smart tries to triumph where ForFour failed.

The Smart ForTwo is growing – and here’s the picture to prove it! Auto Express has learned that Mercedes is planning to add a pair of rear doors and extra seats to its famous city car.
Doubling the Smart’s carrying capacity to four people, the new variant will give the range some added practicality, letting it compete with an upcoming raft of desirable small cars such as Audi’s A1 and BMW’s Isetta. No name has yet been give to the newcomer, but it’s likely to carry the ForTwo +2 tag, indicating that it’s very much an addition to the ForTwo line-up.
As you can see from this illustration, the new model is near identical to the two-seater, apart from a pair of neatly integrated small rear doors. These reverse-hinged units give access to two individual chairs in the back. Underneath the skin, the car features the same rear-wheel-drive layout as the regular ForTwo with the engine under the boot floor, but with a stretched wheelbase giving extra legroom.

Read full article here.

Mitsubishi Motors back in black for first time since 2002

26th April 2007
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) today announced its results for the year ending March 31, 2007, together with forecasts for the year ending March 31, 2008. Consolidated sales for fiscal 2006 totalled 2 trillion, 202.9 billion yen: an increase of 82.8 billion yen over the previous fiscal year. Favourable yen exchange rates and a more profitable model mix more than offset decreases in retail sales volume and in the OEM supply volume resulting from the ending of the production of the smart forfour model at the MMC/DaimlerChrysler Nedcar plant in the Netherlands.
Read full report here.

Smart Forfour

By JASON DAWE
The original two-seater Smart car was a motoring milestone. Its tiny dimensions and radical styling made it one of the most recognisable cars on the road. But as DaimlerChrysler, the owner of the brand, soon found out, innovation in itself does not make you money. With the financial losses mounting at Smart, the manufacturer hoped the introduction of a larger, more practical four-seater model would put the accounts back into the black.
Introduced to the UK in September 2004, the Smart Forfour was 50% longer than its little brother, giving it not only rear seats but also a reasonable boot. That extra length also transformed the car’s road manners: gone was the choppy ride caused by the ultra-short wheelbase, replaced by the sense that you are driving a proper grown-up car.
While there are some visual similarities with the Fortwo, the Forfour shares more than half of its components with the Mitsubishi Colt. It also comes with a much more traditional lineup of engines. Out went the 600cc turbocharged unit found in the Fourtwo and in came a range of three petrol and two diesel engines.

Read full story here.

DCX to redo SMART car before U.S. debut

The SMART car lineup has been trimmed from three models to just one after the cancellation of the forfour and roadster models. So the future profitability of the brand rests on the tiny fenders of the fortwo, which will be coming to the U.S. in 2008. WhatCar? is reporting that the tiny two-seater will be rehashed before it makes its American debut. As you can see from this rendering, the overall look may be largely unchanged, with the biggest difference being the new headlights and front fascia. WhatCar?, however, calls the next fortwo "all-new", so perhaps DaimlerChrysler will be substantially revamping the car inside and out in an effort to make it more appealing to U.S. tastes.
source: Autoblog

SMART forfour production ends - Mitsubishi and DaimlerChrysler part ways

The end of June saw the end of production for the SMART forfour that was produced through a joint collaboration between Mitsubishi and DaimlerChrysler. The forfour was produced at Mitsusbishi's facility in the Netherlands where the Colt will continue to be made. An engine plant in Germany that was jointly operated by both companies will be handed over to DaimlerChrysler. While SMART has information on the fortwo, forfour and Roadster on its website, the brand will be down to just one car, the fortwo, with the exit of the forfour. The Roadster Finale currently being sold is a special edition model to mark the end of that car's production run.

Daimler eyes U.S. partner for Smart

HEIDELBERG, Germany, June 7 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler is looking for a partner that could help sell the Smart ForTwo minicar in the United States, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with Germany's Capital magazine.
"The sales network is decisive...It is certain that we want to cooperate with a third party," he told the financial magazine.
"The small city car doesn't fit optimally in many cases to the strong luxury positioning of the Mercedes-Benz brand and its locations," Zetsche continued, adding that only the group's Dodge brand came into question here.
"But it (Dodge) already has a very broad product portfolio. For our ForTwo we need our own smart way," the CEO said.
Zetsche reiterated the group is in favour of selling the car in the U.S. market and that a final decision would come this month.
Earlier, Daimler reported that deliveries of its Smart cars to customers fell nearly 22 percent in the first five months of the year.
Sales have been hurt by falling demand for the Smart ForFour, which it will scrap from its range -- leaving only the original ForTwo left from erstwhile plans that once envisioned expanding the line to four separate models.
Daimler hopes that dropping the ForFour model will help premium division Mercedes Car Group, in which the Smart brand is included, hit its target of at least 7 percent operating margin next year.
Zetsche reaffirmed in the interview he was certain that Mercedes was on track to meet this goal. Source.

DaimlerChrysler eyes takeover of Smart engine plant

STUTTGART, Germany (MarketWatch) -- German-U.S. carmaker DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) intends to fully take over the plant that produces the engines for the Smart "forfour" model and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s (7211.TO) Colt model, according to an application filed for the deal.
The Federal Cartel Office published the application.
The eastern Germany-based plant, which is operated by MDC Power GmbH, is a 50-50 joint venture between DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi.
DaimlerChrysler has said it will stop producing the Smart forfour model and is in talks with Mitsubishi over compensation payments for canceling the partnership contract, which would otherwise have expired in 2010.
DaimlerChrysler wasn't immediately available to comment.

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Lithium Technology Delivers Battery for Zytek Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Program

Source: Business Wire [Apr 04, 2006]
SYNOPSIS: These batteries can be charged by either the ICE, by regenerative breaking, or by household mains (plug-in hybrid), and will have a modest all-electric range.

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.--April 4, 2006--Lithium Technology Corporation ("LTC") (OTC Bulletin Board:LTHU), a leading manufacturer in the rapidly emerging large format rechargeable Lithium battery market, announced today that it has delivered, through its wholly owned German subsidiary GAIA Akkumulatorenwerke GmbH in Germany, a Li-ion battery for a hybrid vehicle that is being developed by UK based automotive technology specialists Zytek Systems as part of the Energy Saving Trust's Ultra-Low Carbon Car Challenge (ULCCC).
In March 2005, Zytek was awarded grant funding from the Energy Saving Trust for the 2nd phase of their ULCCC project to develop a new high efficiency, dual mode hybrid vehicle. The vehicle is based on the new Smart forfour and will utilize a hybrid power train based on 1500cc, 3-cylinder turbo charged diesel engine coupled to 2 high-efficiency permanent-magnet electric motors.
Zytek has ordered three Li-ion batteries with output of 288 V, a capacity of 7.5 Ah (or about 2.2 kWh of energy) and with a capability to deliver 25 kW of power. These batteries can be charged by either the ICE, by regenerative breaking, or by household mains (plug-in hybrid), and will have a modest all-electric range. The first battery has been installed in the vehicle and road tests will commence shortly. The remaining two batteries will be delivered in April 2006.

Read full article here.
Read related SCOOT article here.

Mitsubishi's Dutch car-making unit confirms plans to downsize

Bruce Mutsvairo
Associated Press

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Mitsubishi Motor Corp.'s Dutch car-making unit NedCar is expected to slash "a few hundred jobs" in a reorganization aimed at cutting production costs, a spokeswoman said.
A company statement said Mitsubishi ordered its Dutch operation to downsize to one shift as it closes the assembly line for the four-seat forFour model of DaimlerChrysler AG's Smart car, keeping production only of the Mutsubishi's Colt.
Earlier Monday, workers downed tools to express concern over the plans to discontinue production of the Smart model, and threatened more labor sanctions to come.
"What action would you expect from the employees? We will continue to press ahead with strikes," workers representative Jean Wouters told Dutch Television.
Company spokeswoman Liz Tans said it was uncertain how many workers would be affected by the restructuring, but local media put the figure at about 1,000.
Tans said negotiations would continue, but "it's clear a few hundred people will lose their jobs."
"Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has requested NedCar to draft a restructuring plan for a one-shift operation, based on a current production volume of Mitsubishi Colt, in the context of intended smart forFour exit," said a NedCar statement.

Read full story here.

Focusing on the smart fortwo

• New smart fortwo to be launched in 2007
• Cancellation of production of smart forfour intended, subject to negotiations with
• Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and other partners
• Sustainable profitability confirmed

Stuttgart, Germany, March 25, 2006

DaimlerChrysler AG is planning to focus on the smart fortwo to ensure the long-term sustainability of its smart brand. Thus, the profitability of smart will be confirmed, with positive results expected from 2007 onward.
The planned measures for a further enhancement of the business modell of smart include the following items:

• The clear focus on the smart fortwo;
• the intention to cancel production of the smart forfour;
• the manifestation of smart and especially the smart fortwo as a long-term and important part of DaimlerChrysler’s product portfolio;

as well as the complete integration of smart into the Mercedes organization.
Overall, these measures are likely to result in a headcount reduction of 300 employees at smart in Böblingen.
The smart forfour is produced by MMC through its wholly-owned subsidiary Netherlands Car B.V. (Nedcar) in Born, Netherlands. The cancellation of the forfour production is still subject to negotiations to be carried out with MMC and all other partners.
The measures described above are still subject to approval by both the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler AG. The cost for DaimlerChrysler related to these measures are estimated to be in the magnitude of approximately EUR 1 billion.

Source www.daimlerchyrsler.com

Mitsubishi to seek compensation from DCX for SMART ForFour cancellation

Source: www.autoblog.com
Posted Mar 30th 2006 5:34PM by Joel Arellano

Following DaimlerChrysler's announcement that it will be stopping production of the SMART ForFour sedan, partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has stated it will end production at the company's Netherlands plant as well. The Japanese automaker still plans to manufacturer engines for DCX's SMART two-seaters.Both companies have not yet determined when will be the last day of production. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun states, though, that Mitsubishi will be seeking financial compensation for DCX's abrupt termination of their partnership in the ForFour.[Source: Nihon Keizai Shimbun via AFX News Limited via Forbes]

Does the smart car have a future?

December 13, 2005
by Mathieu St-Pierre , Auto123.com
The smart fortwo has been on the Canadian market for less than 18 months and it has not sold as well as DaimlerChrysler, smart's parent company, would have liked. Worse, global sales have not been very good either. In fact, since its inception, smart has never turned a profitable dollar or Euro for that matter. Since 1998, and because of smart, DCX has lost EUR2.6bn and 2005 is looking like another lost cause even if they sell more cars than last year.
2005 has been tough. Two models were flushed: the Roadster and the formore SUV. Financial losses are estimated at EUR600m. The forfour 4-seater is not catching on as well as the fortwo and smart's entry into the American market is still very doubtful.
At the moment, smart is undergoing a EUR1.1bn restructuring process with the goal to make the car company profitable by 2007. By the same year, the next-generation fortwo will be launched and the most recent plans also include the introduction of the smart in the US.
There are two opinions amongst industry analysts: do it and don't do it, move into the US market that is. The success of the next generation fortwo will have much to do with the decision of whether DCX will invest in a second-generation forfour.
DaimlerChrysler is working on merging certain aspects of the smart's development process with Mercedes. With hopes of keeping costs down and interest up, smart is working hard to make 2007 the year of the 180-degree turn-around.
Let us hope they can do it.

View source here.