Ask The Best And Brightest: Is The Renault-Nissan-Daimler Deal Smarter Than The Smart Brand?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

As analyst comments on the freshly-announced Renault-Nissan-Daimler deal come in [via Automotive News [sub]], a consensus seems to be building around the notion that the tie-up offers few real advantages to the three firms outside the real of small-car development. The financial impact and opportunities for luxury-segment component sharing are constrained by the deal’s structure, meaning the stock-swap and attendant hoopla are little more than window-dressing for the real project: developing compact and subcompact cars for tomorrow’s C02 standards. As Bertel noted, rumors of a Daimler-Renault tie-up have always centered around the Smart brand, and today Daimler’s Dieter Zetsche told Automotive News [sub] that

We could not have found a feasible basis alone for the next-generation Smart family… Of course, we could do a next-generation Smart alone, but we would lose a lot of money

And with a new, jointly-developed, four-seat Smart now planned for the US as well as Europe, Daimler plans to capitalize on years of money-losing brand-building at Smart. But what isn’t addressed by the deal is the fact that Daimler is also planning a range of Mercedes-branded, front-drive replacements for its Europe-only A- and B-class models… and that they are rumored to be heading stateside as well. With BMW headed into the compact front-drive market, we’ve wondered whether they didn’t simply leave such activities to their MINI brand. Mercedes, it would seem, now finds itself with a similar dilemma. As premium brands are forced by environmental legislation to downsize their offerings, what are the relative benefits of offering compact cars as both, say, Smart and Mercedes brands? Could we soon be hearing that Daimler will keep the new compact Mercedes models in Europe, and leave the American-market downsizing to its Smart brand? After all, brand dilution at Daimler seems to be a recurring theme in analyst comments on today’s tie-up. But is Smart a strong enough brand in the US to carry the brunt of Daimler’s dreams of CAFE compliance? If you were behind Dr Z’s mustache, would you wield Mercedes, Smart, or both, as you move towards the compact future?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Chitbox dodge Chitbox dodge on Apr 08, 2010

    I don't know, I smell a rat. If daimler was dead set on getting into the small car market, why not bring over the A and B series cars? Why go through the trouble of "merging" with a rival? You add this to the previously confirmed bad behavior of MB with bribes and the internal gutting of chrysler, to me it makes one wonder what is really going on. I think Mr. Ghosn is playing some dangerous games these days.

  • Cheevie Cheevie on Apr 08, 2010

    Was that Carlos Ghosn posing in the little car?

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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