Interesting article:
Selling Smart: Tiny car sparks big changes
Ryan Beene
Automotive News
January 28, 2008 - 12:01 am ET
ENLARGE
David Schembri, CEO of Smart U.S.A., at Smart Center Bloomfield: A new brand and a new car required a new business model.
Photo credit: A.J. MUELLER
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DETROIT — Six or seven staff members were circulating around the showroom of Smart Center Bloomfield as coffee brewed at the information desk when I walked in on Jan. 17. It was their first official day selling the tiny European microcar.
Surrounding them in this clean, modern showroom in Detroit's north-western suburbs were three Smart ForTwos. A cutaway display of the little two-seater's steel roll cage radiated in bright colors.
Staff members were preoccupied. They were talking about Roger.
But they weren't talking about Roger Penske, who owns Penske Automotive Group, the parent company of Smart U.S.A. Penske did make a brief appearance but didn't drive a Smart ForTwo; he drove a Bentley.
The staff was double-checking when Roger Stam was coming into the store.
Stam was the first customer in Michigan to receive his ForTwo. He was coming in at 2 p.m. on that cold, wet gray January day — and they all knew him by his first name.
Smart dealers
A snapshot of the Smart U.S.A. dealer network
-- 62 sales outlets in 31 states, chosen from 500 applicants.
-- 12 more outlets coming by June 1.
-- 22 exclusive stores.
-- The average size is 3,000 square feet.
-- 46 stores share sales or service space with Mercedes-Benz dealerships.
What, no trunk?
Soon, three customers walked into the dealership and began to browse the ForTwos on display.
Mark Gifford, 34, from Clio, Mich., came in with his boss, who wanted to check out the Smart cars. But Gifford wasn't too enthusiastic about the city car.
"It wouldn't be practical," he said. "I couldn't throw my kids in the trunk."
That's when I overheard near-giddy brand specialist Tom Minninger schooling other visitors on the For-Two.
He was extolling the virtues and cool features of the Smart car, from the rear-mounted three-cylinder engine to the "service flap" on the hood. It's a plastic hood that detaches from the car to reveal washer fluid, brake fluid and other tanks.
Minninger said the car's lineage is one reason he was so excited about the brand.
"I used to be with Mercedes-Benz," he said. Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG manufactures Smart cars.
Said Minninger: "I always respected the quality, and that's why I'm so happy to be here."
ENLARGE
Stores have a Smart frame on display -- but no inventory in the lot.
Photo credit: A.J. MUELLER Backlog of orders
Joe Ziniti, Smart Center Bloomfield's general manager, said his dealership is scheduled to deliver 80 to 90 ForTwos by the end of February as the cars are shipped from their factory in France.
"We haven't had too much communication with the customers because Smart just kind of gave us our customers for the first couple of months," he said. The first vehicles are going to satisfy the backlog of online orders that built up before the retail launch.
But, Ziniti said, people have been coming by the dealership for about a week, out of curiosity.
"Who we're seeing walk in are the people who are definitely environmentally conscious," he said.
The ForTwo's fuel economy, Ziniti said, is a big draw in this time of perpetually rising gas prices.
Smart says the car will get 33 mpg in city driving and 41 mpg on the highway.
The star of the opening day was Stam, 67, of White Lake Township, Mich., who was in the media spotlight after he got his blue convertible ForTwo. Local TV and radio media types repeatedly asked him the same questions.
Later, he spoke a bit about why he was, as he said, "tickled to death" about his new car.
"I needed a much more fuel-efficient car, and I wanted something a little more fun and not boring," Stam said. His choice was not made by comparison shopping.
ENLARGE
Joe Ziniti, Smart Center Bloomfield's general manager, puts Roger Stam -- customer No. 1 -- into his new ForTwo.
Photo credit: A.J. MUELLER Not your typical buyer
It became clear that the Smart buyer is different from the average buyer. A Smart buyer wants the car because it's cool and a good value, not necessarily because the buyer needs a car.
"In the traditional car-buying atmosphere, sometimes there's an edge to a customer because they're so well-schooled to say, 'Go in there with your guard up and hit 'em — you're gonna buy it at invoice,' " Ziniti said.
"In here, people are coming in with big smiles on their faces because they know, 'My car's here, it was built the way I want it, I don't have to play the game.' "
Seeking fun, mpg
Every person I talked with either had reserved a car or, if browsing, wasn't comparison shopping. They were only thinking about the Smart car. I didn't hear anyone say, "For the same money, you could get a car like the
Nissan Versa,
Honda Fit or Chevy Cobalt with a real back seat and trunk — so why would I buy this?"
Instead, it appeared that Smart ForTwo customers were lured because of the fun factor and fuel economy.
Novelty and fuel economy brought in 30-year-old Chad Clark of suburban Waterford Township, Mich. He works as a landscaper and drives a 2008
Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup. He says the 10 to 13 mpg his hefty diesel-powered truck gets is "just terrible."
"If I were going to get one of these, I'd just drive it around," Clark said. "But if gas goes up too high, that would be my primary vehicle. Everybody has their breaking point."
Smart must be doing something right. Since opening, Smart Center Bloomfield has added 30 customers to the reservation list. Maybe a year wait isn't too long.
I wonder what the G-forces were; prolly not survivable. 
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