I've been hearing a lot about dealerships closing all across the USA, and I have to say I'm quite concerned. Sales are WAY down, to the point where dealers can't cover their overhead.
Why hasn't Smart USA launched an advertising campaign? Don't they realize that the general American consumer expects to get a great deal of their consumer information from commercials? Especially when it comes to cars? One of the reasons that Honda, Chevy, Ford, Mercedes, BMW and Hyundai are successful is due to their aggressive advertising on TV and radio. Watch a sporting event on television and you're inundated with car ads at every commercial break.
I had to call my insurance company for a claim recently and the customer service representative had to Google "Smart Car" while we were on the phone because she didn't know what it was! And she works for a major auto insurance company!!
I think Smart USA has seriously dropped the ball and have sabotaged their own success in the USA. It would be very disappointing for myself and all the other Smart owners out there if the brand went defunct in the USA and we found our extended warranties are no longer worth anything.
Thoughts?
Why hasn't Smart USA launched an advertising campaign? Don't they realize that the general American consumer expects to get a great deal of their consumer information from commercials? Especially when it comes to cars? One of the reasons that Honda, Chevy, Ford, Mercedes, BMW and Hyundai are successful is due to their aggressive advertising on TV and radio. Watch a sporting event on television and you're inundated with car ads at every commercial break.
I had to call my insurance company for a claim recently and the customer service representative had to Google "Smart Car" while we were on the phone because she didn't know what it was! And she works for a major auto insurance company!!
I think Smart USA has seriously dropped the ball and have sabotaged their own success in the USA. It would be very disappointing for myself and all the other Smart owners out there if the brand went defunct in the USA and we found our extended warranties are no longer worth anything.
Thoughts?
Tags: advertising, closures, dealerships
Replies to This Discussion
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Julie,
I agree, they need to step up their advertising. I know the dealer here in San Antonio has about 2 dozen cars on the lot and I haven't noticed too many of them moving.
Also, they seem to lose a lot of repeat customers because of the cost of upkeep with the dealer. I recently took my '08 Passion coupe in becasue both of my headlights burned out at the same time. The service call was $50, just to tell me that the smart can't handle the slightly brighter bulbs I installed. Then they wanted anoth $130 to install 2 bulbs!! I did it myself for $33 and took me 5 minutes. I blasted them in the smartusa survey they sent me afterwards.
I think Penske needs to take a look at how they are running smartusa and kick them in the butt.
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smart USA Has a new President who has been on the job for all of a week,
She used to be the head of Saturn and made her relationship with Penskie during the failed Saturn negotiations
We should start to see some changes soon
AS to the closing dealers, 2 just closed, one was because the dealer network was sold
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She scares me... note Saturn went belly-up.
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Interesting, however GM went bankrupt by? I love my smart car. However by not offering diesel, electric, and a true barabus model, they have left Americans with little choice other than colors and 3 models to choose from. Gas is down to under 3 dollars a gallon and pickups are selling like hotcakes again.
Now if my car was a diesel and got 70mpg then I think we wouldnt be talking about dealers closing. Or perhaps a brabus model with 100hp would draw the 20 somethings toward us as well. But now 3 years in, and the shine is wearing off, with nothing new to offer the consumer, a lack of sales of a Specialty vehicle is not surprising. Every car MFG brings out new models EVERY year, Smart is esentially the same as it was introduced.
As of the brand dissapearing? Not in my lifetime. So dont worry about warranty support, just enjoy being one of not quite so many in the US.
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Permalink Reply by mr bad example on -
i'm seeing more smarts out and about as i drive here. my dealer has been calling me now and then, wanting me to trade my '08 for a new '09 or '10, seems they aren't moving as fast these days. i am getting tired of manually cranking the windows of my pure (first in state!), if i do trade it in, it will be for a black passion (less hassle with the condo association, same car, different wheels!)
now that i have a "real job" (been temping since 6 months before i got my smart, unemployed 5 months as well, along with other major life changes that cost $$$$) i might go for a '10 passion (i have a solo exhaust waiting for warm weather, to be installed)
smart doesn't really need to spend $$$$ on advertising, just give current owners pamphlets to hand out, i have a stack of smart center business cards that i hand out to the curious, i bet i've sold more than a dozen! my video on youtube has been averaging 1200 views a month for the last 2 years (1/21/08), the day i got my smart. (not counting the dozens of websites that have pirated it out to theirs, i googled myself (oooh! mj style! LOL) and found over a dozen websites that feature my video of my smart. the people who want a smart, will find it, sooner or later. i found smart in car & driver many years ago, then followed it on the net, and signed up when they offered info for the USA. i saw a few in spain in 2005, along with a few other really small cars, if i wasn't being dragged along by my then future, now current ex-wife, i'd have taken pics and done research on them as well (seeing that we may be getting new fiat 500's here soon)
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I've given out more than 200 of the pamphlets, but my dealer says they have less than a 1% return on those. It's going to take a lot more than viral videos on YouTube and current owners handing out info cards to get the kind of traffic that a well-timed national TV ad campaign can generate. We're talking hundreds of thousands of potential buyers -- possibly millions -- rather than just a couple of thousand.
My L.A. dealership is one of the most successful in the country, but they've only sold two (yes, TWO) cars this month. Their overhead for the dealership (payroll, etc.) is based on a minimum of 10 cars sold a month. That's not happening. The dealership is in danger of closing.
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Permalink Reply by Tony on -
I agree with you Julie. I love my smart I probably talk to 2 or 3 people on average a day about the car. Price MPG, is it electric... you know the routine. I cant say for sure that anyone ever went running to the dealer as a result or not. smart has no choice but to ramp up advertisement and for goodness sake, broaden the product line. Geeze, be the first to offer all electric, JUST DO IT... do something. Sitting on their thumbs will surely give one result. End of a product line that surely could change how Americans get around. Get the diesel here... I'd kill for 70 plus MPG. Who wouldn't. I can tell you who, the oil tycoons that have ham stringed the american driving public for long enough. Yes I am one of those that purchased an extended warranty. Just today I sent off a letter to them to find out what they plan to do IF something should happen to the Orlando dealership. I am very optimistic that with a new President at the helm, this ship will be turned in the right direction. I just hope she does it soon enough.
I thought it was novel the comments from mr bad example. I have several videos on YouTube. www.youtube.com/smartcarfor2 I put a HUGE effort into defending the accident worthiness of the smart. I have had the misfortune of seeing the actual results of a bad T bone accident. The smart did fantastic. Sadly there is almost NO convincing those that think the only way you can be safe is in a massive vehicle.
I put a lot of the slowdown of vehicle sales on the economy, but you have to fight for your place and not advertising is seemingly suicidal. The brand MUST get some TV and Radio time... and they HAVE got to give a broader selection. Why not open a plant in the US and build roadsters... gas ones, diesel ones, hybrids... ok ok I digress.
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Well, I'm am a card0carrying advocate of Smart's safety. See here: Blog Post April 7, 2008
And here: Blog Post January 15, 2010
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The Coral Gables Dealership here in Miami used to have 36 or so cars in their inventory at one time. I drove by yesterday and their lot is now 3/4 full of Mercedes and they have about 8-12 Smarts only. It is a troubling sign.
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Ebay. Wow. Maybe I will suggest that route to my dealers in LA. Anything to keep them from having to close their doors.
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