didn't realize mercedes was doing that bad relative to bmw and vw (audi)

[veeman]

http://news.yahoo.com/daimler-ceo-zetsche-unveils-last-101536524.html


the smart car was a bad idea to begin with, and the youtube videos of the bad results from head on collisions with bigger cars, doomed it in the u.s.  (don't have to be a physicist to realize what is indicated by the formula F = ma).  I drove a smart car in italy for a few days on the chianti road outside of florence about 9 years ago.  while the novelty of it was cool, i've never felt more vulnerable on the open road on two lane opposing traffic highways before.  i was sh_tting my pants the whole time. 

anyways, the smart car is just one in a long list of relative failures that mb has done.  the e-class rocks.  the s-class is all about image (although i've heard it's a great car.)  their smaller cars (at least the c-class) leave much to be desired (despite a great superbowl commercial).  i don't know anything about their cars smaller than the c-class because they don't sell them in the u.s. 

their suvs (g-class and m-class) have gotten great reviews particularly recently and while the glk never wins any comparos, i think it looks real cool.  probably very small sales in china and europe however.

[2o6]

The Smart Car was not a failure.


The Smart Car brand, however, was. The ForFour and Roadster were sales bombs, and the current Fortwo is getting meidiocre reveiws, not all of it related to it's small size.

[Submariner]

"Daimler's chronic underperformance in small cars, as well as his own management record." ≠ poor performance overall.

But Mercedes will need to look into the small car market, as it seems there is more and more movement towards efficient, small vehicles.  The Smart Car actually has good brand recognition and a certain nerdy "cool" about it, but that SMG transmission needs to go, and FWIW it should be far more frugal than it is.   

[cawimmer430]

I'm not sure what this article means by "chronic underperformance in small cars" because all three generations of the A-Class and the two generations of the B-Class have been smashing sales success.

The C-Class is also a huge success worldwide and in Germany outsells the A-Class and B-Class by a wide margin.


If the article is talking about raw performance, then maybe it has a point (except for the C-Class).

[NomisR]

"Daimler's chronic underperformance in small cars, as well as his own management record." ≠ poor performance overall.

But Mercedes will need to look into the small car market, as it seems there is more and more movement towards efficient, small vehicles.  The Smart Car actually has good brand recognition and a certain nerdy "cool" about it, but that SMG transmission needs to go, and FWIW it should be far more frugal than it is.   

Considering the size and performance specs of the Smart.. it's fuel efficiency is not impressive at all.  Bigger faster cars have better mileage, and at least in NA other than maybe NYC, there's absolutely no reason to own one.