Comments on: smart forfour For U.S.?

By: Cammy Corrigan

Cammy Corrigan — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:28:46 +0000

What I don’t understand is Smart used to do a version of the forfour which was based on a Mitsubishi Colt platform. It looked reasonable, and drove ok, it was just overpriced (nearly £12K!) which led to its downfall. Fundamentally, it was an ok car, just stupidly priced.

If Smart re-sold that in the US and used economies of scale to bring the price down (or even build it in the US?) I reckon they’d have a winner.

Trouble is, if Toyota bring their Aygo over there, it’ll be game over in the “cute, funky city car” segment…..

By: minion444

minion444 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:22:46 +0000

I have a SmartTwo on reservation. It will strictly be a commuter car. Yes, I will losd it up with every option. No it desn’t get the best gas mileage. But, If I want to carry 4 people, I will use my Jetta or Durango.

By: Bancho

Bancho — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:03:36 +0000

The only issue I see here is that it puts them directly in competition of existing vehicles like the Yaris, Fit, Accent and Rio. The prices the Smart is going for will be very hard to justify in that light.

I’m really hoping that Smart can find their groove and succeed but I think this may be the wrong way to head at this point.

By: joeaverage

joeaverage — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:54:09 +0000

The car in the picture would work for us but the engine would need to be a 1.2 four cylinder at least. Not more than a 1.8L which I think would be unecessary.

Emphasize to potential customers that this is a short distance car and not a cross country car unless the customer is replacing a ‘68 Beetle. That way no matter how the customer uses it, it is a move up in convenience, comfort, and power.

I have an old Beetle so I’m not bashing them too badly. VBG!

By: dean

dean — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:34:10 +0000

That looks reasonably useful, but once you add 4 passenger capability it needs to compete with the Fits and Yarises (Yarii?) and it loses its niche.

And if Canadian pricing is any indication, the Smart is already overpriced with only 2 seats. I really can’t see forfour succeeding in the market at its current price structure once it has lost its uber-small uniqueness.

By: Justin Berkowitz

Justin Berkowitz — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:32:39 +0000

The problem with the original smart forfour was that it was hideously ugly and it wasn’t in keeping with the smart brand.

Small and simple is their mantra, anything more than that is just a mistake. That’s why the forfour (bad car) and roadster (good but overpriced car) were such miserable sales failures.