forfour.co.uk
Forum => General Smart Chat => Topic started by: jmariog on July 07, 2020, 09:25:36 PM
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Smart cars to be sold
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Looking at your post it is quite easy to assume Smarts will go
completely, B U T...that is about the factory/production line
in Smartville, France.
There was an article in Autocar (July2020) that give you a
better picture of events surrounding the sale of the factory.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/mercedes-benz-sell-smart-factory-france
MB has long wanted to rid itself of the 'low end' Smart brand,
so last year they sold 50% of the Smart brand to Chinese
firm Geely, with production of its future models switching to
China as part of the agreement.
In the same Autocar article it states :-
"In 2018, Mercedes announced a €500 million (£445m)
investment into the facility to upgrade it for electric car
production, with plans to build a compact Mercedes EQ
model alongside the Smart line."
So, in very much the same way that MB viewed the Smart
ForFour (454 model) as competition to their own A-Class
rather than as an entry level vehicle into the world of MB,
they have in one swoop saved themselves the ignominy of
a repeat of that same scenario and finally got their way.
If Smart had been the 'child' of VW they would have embraced
it into their porfolio, alongside the brands of SEAT and Skoda,
and not held it at arms length like, or tried to hide it away in
the darkest corners of their dealerships as they always did.
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If Smart had been the 'child' of VW they would have embraced
it into their porfolio, alongside the brands of SEAT and Skoda,
and not held it at arms length like, or tried to hide it away in
the darkest corners of their dealerships as they always did.
VAG have had a hierarchy system going.
Audi and VW have had the latest tech and SEAT and Skoda have had 'last years' models rebadged, hand me downs if you will. and you will also find that SEAT and Skoda techs CAN NOT work on Audi and VW models. you then have VAG supercar techs which no other tech other than a supercar tech can work on the likes of the R8 and Lamborghini.
Mercedes only kept Smart to get there emissions down, now that Mercedes are making EV's there is no need for Smart in there portfolio.
i do hope Geely take full, if not a major majority control of Smart. given how they have turned Volvo around, im sure they will do the same with Smart.
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INEOS, the company proposing to build a looky likey Land Rover Defender were to build a factory at Bridgend in Wales. Now it seems that they are also looking further afield. 🤔
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/confirmed-ineos-talks-daimler-build-grenadier-smart-factory