Mercedes-Benz: Smart loss is several billion?

greek_philosophizer <com> hat in Betrag
news:com dies gedichtet:
 

Is Forbes really _that_ unprofessional? The only source the journalist
delivers for his claim that DC has lost billions is his own estimation.
Sorry, but being a journalist myself I simply do not buy that.

IIRC the smart was launched just 4 years ago. It seems quite clear to me
that the investment in developing the car, building the plant, deploying a
dealers network and creating a brand awareness has not returned fully yet.
But after the introduction of the smart cabriolet sales have increased
sharply, and the smart roadster seems to sell well (at least they have
become quite common in german traffic).

It may be hard to understand that such small cars sell well in the old
Europe. But OTOH the demand after cars like Ford Taurus and F150 is so
small that they are not sold here at all ;-)

Frank

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Frank Kemper wrote: 

Although I agree with your comment about
the unprofessionality of the journalist
he is right with the facts:
Ca. two(?) years ago the loss was around
4500 million German Marks, making more
than 2000 million in Euros.

I must admit I forgot the source, but
I remember the figure was staed cited
by several (normally reliable) sources.

It takes many years to get out of the
debt - as long as Smart does not sell ca.
200.000 vehicles a year they do produce
losses: Only after that they can begin
to compensate the old losses.


Juergen

"greek_philosophizer" <com> wrote in message
news:com... 


Ignore. It is just part of the American car lobby who would have a lot to
loose if Americans started downsizing their cars, and as a result like to
preach all the disadvantages of small cars. To call the Smart Roadster
"slow" does it a great injustice too.

> Ignore. It is just part of the American car lobby who would have a lot to
loose if Americans started downsizing their cars, and as a result like to
preach all the disadvantages of small cars. To call the Smart Roadster
"slow" does it a great injustice too. >

The "American car lobby"? That represents the buying public over here and
it's not likely to change any time soon, even if our fuel costs rise to
anywhere near European norms. For nearly 60 years the world (and the US
government) have been trying to get Americans into smaller vehicles. While
to a degree a small segment of the population has done so, by and large
Americans will not even consider smaller, more efficient vehicles. There's
no "lobby" involved, people just use common sense.

The greatest loss to Americans driving "small cars" will be thousands of
lives lost unnecessarily in these death traps. Real world comparisons of
highway deaths per mile between American cars, trucks & SUVs vs.typical
European or Asian small cars are shocking. Insurance industry statistics
prove that little cars, fuel-thrifty as they are, aren't even safe in single
car mishaps. Even the liberal Clinton administration's NHTSA issued a report
in 2000 that admitted the downsizing of automobiles throughout the 80's and
90's had resulted in the unnecessary deaths of nearly 20,000 people. NHTSA
surmised that the savings in fuel consumption over the period had far more
to do with advances in engine management technology than weight savings, and
that the physics related to weakening of structures simply cannot be
overcome by corresponding advances in safety engineering. This was a very
exhaustive study that Greens and the safety lobby over here try to suppress
any time it's mentioned.

I worked for VW here in the States for many years. The Corporate "dirty
little secret" was the brand's fatality rate.

Smart just celebrated the 500,000 car and announced break even for 2004.
The first Smart to come to the USA is a larger Smart SUV/Gelaendewagen,
currently being developed by the 4x4 experts at Magna Steyr in Graz.
It will be 2 feet longer than the Smart forfour fourseater and have
additional crumple zone and pedestrian protection, a longer wheelbase
for directional stability etc. More:

http://www.whnet.com/4x4/w456.html (english)

http://www.autobild.de/aktuell/neuheiten/artikel.php?artikel_id=4782 (german)


Wolfgang

"Gerald G. McGeorge" <net> hat in Betrag
news:supernews.com dies gedichtet:
 

Real world comparisons of highway deaths per mile between America and
Germany are shocking! Think about that. We do not have a speed limit on
our roads and engineer such cars as the smart or the Lupo 3l (most
economic four seater mass production car of the world)

To get serious again: The USP (unique sale preopsition IIRC) of the
smart is its short overall length (given the fact that it offers room
enough for two to travel nicely). This USP is useless in a country which
does not lack space for making huge parking lots. People in crowded
cities like Rome, Paris, London and Munich love the smart. People from
Ruskin/Florida do not understand the concept.

One last line about safety: Its not the small cars which cause
accidents...

Frank

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usenet.us.com wrote: 

The latter URL is wrong.
Correct is
http://www.autobild.de/aktuell/neuheiten/artikel.php?artikel_id=4550

What is said is:
_...Ehrgeizige Pläne bei Smart: Spätestens
2004 will die DaimlerChrysler-Tochter die
Gewinnschwelle erreichen,..._
which translates into sth. like
_Ambitious plans at Smart: The Daimler-Chrysler
subsidiary wants to reach break-even in 2004
at the latest_.

The point with all this marketing blah-blah
is those people lie when they open their mouths:
Break-even here means _operating profit in 2004_
and NOT having paid back all the losses of the
former years.


Juergen

> Real world comparisons of highway deaths per mile between America and
Germany are shocking! Think about that. <

Highway fatality rates accepted as normal in Europe would be considered a
bloodbath in North America. (American trail lawyers have enough to do
extoring their incomes from our Corporations, we don't need circumstances
which encourage them any further!)
 
length (given the fact that it offers room
enough for two to travel nicely). This USP is useless in a country which
does not lack space for making huge parking lots. People in crowded cities
like Rome, Paris, London and Munich love the smart. People from
Ruskin/Florida do not understand the concept. <

.....mostly because they don't need to!

I wonder how many Parisians would consider driving a Smart from Paris to
Moscow? (That's a bit less than the distance from New York City to Denver,
Colorado, or from Chicago to South Florida.)
 
accidents... <

Indeed, however, gun owners in the States say the same thing about their
rifles & pistols. In fact, one gun advocate proposed a unique method of
ensuring there will never again be an airliner hijacked in North
America....issue every passenger a hand gun upon check in!