(William Dudley poses with his cute little micro. SOURCE)
Got a little news on the SMART straight from their communications director, Ken Kettenbeil (no, not Kittenball or Kitten Ball). The completely recyclable microcar, available in 6 fantastic flavors… er… colors is expected to start selling in January. That’s right, at the up coming LA Auto show (next weekend) SMART is expected to announce where their dealerships will be located (I already know we have one scheduled for North Austin / Round Rock). You can then expect to see SMARTS showing up at those dealerships about 45 days later.
Did you reserve yours? I wonder how much a SMART car salesman makes a year. Hrm… *looks up and taps chin*
8. November 2007 at 11:39 pm
In Seattle, it’s been common knowledge for a while that the smart dealer will be in Southcenter, next to Acura of Seattle at Southcenter, part of the O’Brien Auto Group. As with the MINI, the dealership is nowhere near smart’s potential customers, who live in neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Belltown and Queen Anne. Or work in Redmond, at Microsoft and nearby cube farms.
I had a reservation, but after driving the car I decided to get my deposit back. I received a hand-written check from United Auto Group.
Unless you really crave the attention, you’d get more bang for your buck (and about the same gas mileage) with a Yaris or an Aveo…
__Orin
Scootin’ Old Skool
p.s.–I noticed in the video that you weren’t driving…
9. November 2007 at 5:00 am
I sure like the Smart, but when I think about it, I don’t really need that second seat…
And it would be nice if it was more open…
Then you wouldn’t need as large an engine…
Better gas mileage wouldn’t be bad, either…
And when you’re done whittling, it’s a scooter.
Seriously, there’s very little that a Smart can do that a 150cc scooter can’t do too. Without any real cargo space or towing capacity, the Smart can’t fully replace my current car and it would be totally redundant to my scooter. There are plenty of people who could use a Smart, but not scooterists.
9. November 2007 at 6:45 am
Hey Orin! That’s funny. Our dealership is also way up north, or at least that’s what I’m hearing. It would have behooved them to open a Smart shop downtown instead. I get yelled at by pick-up truck drivers when I’m up north on my scooter. It’s not the right audience.
As for driving. I made the standard course around the block the day before and just came back for a quick spin on the highway with Steve W, so I personally didn’t get enough road time to judge the drive-ability myself. I would have made the highway drive, but I didn’t want to trust anyone else with the camera work.
I’ll let you know if I end up putting in my reservation money. Haven’t yet, but it’s mostly due to the fact that I’d be number 27,721 on the waiting list. I bet that would put me somewhere in 2009.
Hey Genwaylaid! I can agree with your logic. A scooterist with a car is pretty well covered. The only time I began to consider it was when my wife said she wanted a scooter. I was thinking. We’ve got a scooter… if we had a “covered scooter”, we’d both have a fun “solo” or “two-up” ride we could use simultaneously AND we could trade out, so on a rainy day if she wasn’t driving the SMART, I could. Of course, that logic isn’t quite enough to push me over the top… but I am considering it.
At the VERY least, I support the idea of the USA getting smaller cars on the road. I won’t bore you with my semi-exhaustive list of reasons, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.
9. November 2007 at 3:24 pm
Yeah it is great to see inexpensive cars that are great for the environment, but I do worry about the price. 11,500 is the base price, but I got my Saturn Ion (base) for 13,000 and it has the 2nd row of seats, towing, and a trunk. Don’t forget about the “machismo” factor. Unfortunately it’s another thing this country has to get over, itself. I just think it’s a little overpriced. It might go the way of the PT Cruiser.
9. November 2007 at 7:09 pm
Hey Anon.
These are all great points and a few of the many things that SMART has stacked against them. As for the PT Cruiser effect. I’m not sure about that. Many of the people who are looking at the SMART are considering it because they want to be part of the Micro-movement but don’t wanna spring for the hefty price tag of the Mini Cooper.
What’s the Micro-movement? Well, everything moves in cycles. Long hair is in, then short hair is in. Remember when small cars were in? Then in the 90′s the SUV began to increase in popularity until it reached a pinnacle (the Ford Excursion). In the early 2000′s those big SUVs began to feel a back lash, the government had to subsidize vehicles like GM’s Hummer with tax breaks to the consumer to help GM stay profitable (please don’t take any of this as law, I’m giving my layman’s opinion on all this)… THEN companies like Mini started their early campaign to capitalize on this backlash, reintroducing Americans to the tiny car. It was / is a pretty big hit, helping to ramp-up interest in these micro cars. We have yet to reach the pinnacle of the micro car. After SMART’s success, Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, Ford will all begin trying to out-do SMART for the title of cutest, most economical, most environmentally commuter vehicle (Honda will likely succeed, since they’ve had so much practice in these areas).
I never thought I’d see the day day when Americans were willing to throw their “machismo” out the window (one reason why Scooters were doing so poorly here)… even harder is changing American’s idea of “value”. Why buy a small car for $14k when I can get a 4-wheeled living room for $35? I can finance it!
Other factors that point to Americans changing their mindset is by looking at the changes we see in major consumables. Tide is now more “natural” with no phosphates. Diet Coke now has vitamins. Americans drinking green tea? Oreo cookies without transfats? Household cleaners becoming more biodegradable? Toyota Prius expected to sell 1 million units annually after 2010 (2 years away). Major manufacturers know that conscious consumers are the next big market. SMART fits right into that niche.
Only time will tell if I can say “I told ya so”, or if I need to pretend like I don’t know what you’re talking about. “Huh?! Smart? No, I never said that.” hehe… I kid.