Smart Car Update

We were recently invited to a roundtable discussion with David Schembri, President of Smart USA.  The event marked Smart’s first attempt at engaging bloggers as part of their marketing outreach.  While there wasn’t any car being launched, it was a nice opportunity to hear about how the company is fairing and what they have in the pipeline.

Smart has been selling cars in the U.S. for just under two years, and in that time has sold in excess of 30,000 units.  They are in the process of bracing for some new competition, expected to pop up in the next two years in the form of the Fiat 500, Toyota IQ and various Scion models.

We learned that Smart started as a collaboration between Swatch and Mercedes-Benz.  The name ‘smart’ is actually an acronym that stands for ‘Swatch Mercedes Art.’  Swatch rose to fame as a watchmaker that let you switch watchbands easily and affordably – giving owners the ability to customize the product to their liking.  The Swatch influence is evident in the smart’s swappable body panels.  As Schembri pointed out, within two hours, you can swap out most of the body panels on the car.  In fact, if you search online, you will find people who are both looking to trade and that own several panel kits.

The most interesting part of panel swapping is that it creates a sense of community and an ability to interact with other owners in a very unique fashion. It also tackles the issue of automotive customization in an affordable fashion.  Unsurprisingly, Smart has a very active group of owners and followers.  At Smart’s community site, there are 180 self-organized owner groups.  Schembri went on record saying that “99% of the communication that takes place on the site is peer-to-peer.”

We had the opportunity to test drive the car and were left with mixed feelings.  There is no doubting the convenience of having such a small car in a dense city.  The interior is very roomy and the car felt solid.  However, it feels too underpowered to gain more mainstream acceptance, and the brake pedal, which was far from refined, really lets you down if you are trying to brake smoothly in city traffic.

Some other interesting facts – Smart is in the process of launching Car2Go, a pay by the minute car sharing service set to make its U.S. debut in Austin, TX.  And, for us New Yorkers, the price of ownership has just gotten even cheaper.  Through the effort of Smart and its dealer partners, several New York City parking garages are now offering significant discounts on monthly parking rates.

Pretty impressive for a staff of 30.