Posted on 12/04/2007 1:36:45 PM PST by Red Badger
German car maker Daimler said Tuesday that next month's launch of its tiny Smart car in the United States will unleash such stiff demand the company will have trouble meeting it.
We will not be able to meet demand thus far" for 2008, Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche said here at a news briefing.
More than 30,000 US customers have put down 99-dollar deposits to reserve one of the fuel-saving, two-seat Smart Fortwo, which will begin arriving in the massive US market in January, he said.
"Down payments are going far beyond the production capacity we have," the chairman said, without providing a sales forecast for the US market.
Many analysts question the ability of the super-small Smart, which measures a mere 2.5 meters (eight feet) in length, to succeed in the country of hulking gasoline-guzzling vehicles.
"Times have changed," Zetsche said, pointing to growing concerns of American consumers about global warming.
The Smart Fortwo will be marketed via 70 dealerships in the leading US cities, the company said.
In its most basic version, the micro car will sell for 11,590 dollars, excluding tax. The company said that a Smart equipped with all the options was expected to cost some 20,000 dollars, including tax.
"We are not looking for customers looking for the cheapest vehicle," Zetsche said.
Daimler clearly signaled it was aiming to emulate Apple's success with electronics gadgets in the US market.
"Like owning an Apple i-Mac, i-Pod or i-Phone, Smart documents the open-minded attitude of the 'thought leaders,' who choose innovative solutions as an existential part of their everyday lives," the company said in a press brochure.
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I’d hate to have to respond to a scene of a violent collision involving one of these death traps. It’s going to be quite an ugly scene.
I've seen a couple of these in parking lots already.
You’re a brave person. I like the thing, but I’m not convinced I’d feel comfortable at highway speeds in one of them.
Volkswagen Up! Concept (VW’s Answer To Daimler’s Smart Car Alert)
VW Vortex | 9/10/2007 | VW Vortex
Posted on 12/05/2007 12:26:18 AM EST by goldstategop
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934889/posts
Deal Reached to Boost Gas Mileage
Associated Press | December 1, 2007 | H. JOSEF HEBERT,AP
Posted on 12/02/2007 8:45:43 AM EST by libstripper
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1933530/posts
Chery and Chrysler Group Finalize Cooperative Agreement
(US to import cars from China)
Chrysler press release | July 4, 2007
Posted on 07/04/2007 2:18:15 AM EDT by HAL9000
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1860629/posts
I think you are being dissed, LOL
Like owning an Apple i-Mac, i-Pod or i-Phone, Smart documents the open-minded attitude of the ‘thought leaders,’ who choose innovative solutions as an existential part of their everyday lives,” the company said in a press brochure.
actually you should know that ntsb report has been exposed as faked. They essentially made up statistics or reported accidents in states when the state did not compile the data.
Sampling vs enumeration type of number games.
The report has not stood up in personal injury courts. Gets ripped up by expert witnesses.
I used to own a Fiat X1/9. I know exactly what you're talking about! The most fun car I've ever owned and the most worked on!...........I spent more time under it than in it!..............
No, but it does come with a WiLL.........
Pull?...You can put it in the cabinet under the sink!...........
Use it as a greenhouse to grow flowers for the funeral...........
I saw them everywhere in Germany in 2000.............
Actually it is. A head-on collision results in the crash energies being routed around the passengers and into the rear structure - to wit: the whole car goes to pieces, end to end, instead of the energies affecting the occupants. There's a video out there somewhere depicting this (quite impressive actually).
No, brave was 120+ mph in a small sports car, looking straight ahead at the tail lights of the other cars and straight to the right at the rims of the truck tires.
The Smart feels pretty safe and secure at 80 mph. If you look at the pictures you are probably basing its size on the height of a normal small car. But the Smart is five feet tall and you sit pretty high up. The only thing strange about it was how short it was, you can reach back and touch the rear window. It's disturbing the first time you turn around to back up, but then you realize it makes backing up very easy.
Its not about size, its about mass and deceleration... I can build a small fiber carbon body tommorrow that could take a 100 MPH hit head on, and show little to no intrusion into the body cavity of the vehicle... but even with air bags and a standard seat belt, the impact of the crash would kill anyone who was unfortunate enough to be the passenger.
The human body cannot decelerate beyond a certain amount before you basically are guaranteeing you are dead. Yes, the air bag may keep your head from hitting the steering wheel, but with little travel room between back of seat and air bag, your brain is going to slam against your skull... your other internal orgams etc will also do things they are not intended to... Even if you broked ZERO bones (not likely) but even if you did, the internal damage would be fatal.
Sorry, but there is only so much a human body can withstand.
True, and true for any car.
LOL, yes that does sound rather disconcerting.
Thanks for the additional comments about the Smart Car. I didn’t realize it was so tall.
Mortality statistics are hard to “fake”
but even if they were off by a factor of 2x
the excess mortality of motorcycling would still be striking
My friends at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation would concur
http://www.msf-usa.org/
where the NTSB calculations would be most likely off
would be in the # miles driven on motorcycles vs cars
but intuitively, the statistic there is not too far off
Not that it stops me...
I have no problem with high risk behavior
as long as a person knows what they are getting into
and accept the risk voluntarily
I would disagree however that the Smart Car is
riskier than a motorcycle,
even given that
I would prefer my bike - personal preference
actually in europe delivery service is done on mopeds or scooters.
The brown UPS truck is a brown UPS scooter with a box on the back.
The Dominoes pizza car is a dominoes pizza scooter with a hot box.
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