Indeed, former Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak had been with Smart USA for scarcely three days. After Penske Automotive Group's bid to save Saturn fell apart, the company snapped up Lajdziak to be its new vice president of sales and marketing. Now Penske is asking Lajdziak to preside over Smart's U.S. operations.
Lajdziak succeeds Dave Schembri, who had been president of Smart since 2006 when Daimler announced that Penske would be the official U.S. importer of the Smart minicar.
The last year has been rough for Smart, as demand for the no-frills, but still quite expensive little car has fallen off a cliff. It will be a Lajdziak's job to fix that. We don't envy her task.
Penske Automotive Group couldn't save the Saturn brand after its prospective partner Renault decided it didn't want to supply cars. But Penske isn't going to pass on hiring Jill Lajdziak, the well regarded long-time general manager of Saturn, seen here getting a bear hug from Bob Lutz. As the new vice president of sales and marketing for Smart USA, she'll have the big task of turning around the struggling small-car brand.
Lajdziak worked with Penske on the negotiations for the sale of Saturn and was involved in mapping out the brand's future under Penske, which would have included sourcing vehicles from Renault's South Korean partner Samsung.
Curious whether the new 2010 Honda Accord has an optional neck massager? How about the tow rating on the Ford F-150? And what about those European cars, they're always adding some new totally nonessential technological "feature."
Now there's an easy way to find out. Our 2010 Buyer's Guide lists every model change from every manufacturer. From colors to options to full redesigns, it's all there.
Daimler officially announced that it will begin series production of the electric Smart starting in 2012. In a ceremony at Daimler's Hambach, France plant, Chairman Dieter Zetsche made the announcement along side a smiling and curiously small French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The electric Smart will use lithium ion batteries and go on sale to the public next year in limited numbers. Full scale production will begin about 18 months after that.
Inside Line tests hundreds of vehicles a year, but not every vehicle gets a full write-up. The numbers still tell a story, though, so we present "IL Track Tested." It's a quick rundown of all the data we collected at the track, along with comments direct from the test drivers. Enjoy.
The Smart Fortwo isn't a performance vehicle no matter how you cut it. It's all about convenience and efficiency. Performance is an afterthought, sort of like the transmission.
But there are some people, we'll call them dreamers, who like the idea of a spruced-up Smart Fortwo. For them, there's the Fortwo Brabus, a mildly tuned factory special that at least gives the impression that this Smart can handle itself around a corner.
To that end, the Brabus-tuned Smart gets a retuned exhaust, revised suspension, a few aerodynamic enhancements, and larger wheels and tires. There are some interior enhancements and special colors, too, but for the purposes of this experiment we'll consider that icing on the cake. Or the most useful upgrades depending on your perspective.
It all adds up to a most unusual Smart. But is it any more of a performance vehicle than the standard model? We took it to the track to find out. See the results and a video after the jump.
Smart Canada introduced its melon-colored Fortwo Limited Edition Three to help guarantee you have the most unique whip on the block - only 180 units will be made. Special attributes include 12-spoke 15-inch alloys, a 70 horsepower three-cylinder engine, ABS, ESP, 3-spoke sports steering wheel with paddle shifters and a leather gear shifter.
Keeping with the "green" theme is its Micro Hybrid Drive, which shuts down the engine at speeds below 8 mph and restarts it when the brake pedal is released. This helps get fuel savings of anywhere from 8 to 20 percent fuel in that dreadful stop-and-go traffic.
The vehicle is available now, and pricing starts at $19,500 ($16,990 American) for the coupe and $22,500 ($19,600) for the drop-top Smart.
The Insurance Institure for Highway Safety (IIHS) has just released bumper tests on 7 "minicars" as it likes to call them and the results weren't pretty.
Smart Fortwo -- Acceptable Chevrolet Aveo -- Marginal Mini Cooper -- Poor Toyota Yaris -- Poor Honda Fit -- Poor Hyundai Accent -- Poor Kia Rio -- Poor
In the case of the Kia Rio, IIHS noted that repair costs from a 6mph frontal impact would result in $3,701 in damage, which equates to rougthly 30% of the car's original cost. The solid rating for the Smart car was largely a consequence of its easily replaceable pre-painted body panels.
You may have seen the findings of an IIHS report released earlier this week. It showed the shocking truth behind collisions between vehicles of different sizes. The conclusion? The bigger one wins. To see for yourself, watch the video below.
In what can only be described as a case for Captain Obvious, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has just released a report that shows the reduced crash worthiness of smaller, subcompact cars compared to larger, midsize cars.
According to the report, "The Honda Fit, Smart Fortwo, and Toyota Yaris are good performers in the Institute's frontal offset barrier test, but all three are poor performers in the frontal collisions with midsize cars. These results reflect the laws of the physical universe, specifically principles related to force and distance."
Ah yes, those annoying laws of the physical universe, not much we can do about those.
Do you hate having to own your car? You know, paying for gas, insurance, a place to park. It's all so exhausting. Wouldn't you just rather pay for a car as you need it? That's the idea behind Daimler's Car2Go program that will soon make its way to Austin, TX.
The idea is to have Smart cars spread throughout the city and when you need to go somewhere you just hop in, swipe your registration card and go. You can also reserve a car ahead of time with your cell phone. Rates are by the minute, hour or day, insurance included.
A pilot program in Ulm, Germany has already shown signs of interest. According to Robert Henrich, project manager at Daimler AG, "In just two weeks more than 500 customers had registered with car2go - a number we had not anticipated. Sometimes I could see from my office window how employees sprinted to the parking lot after work to get a car2go before they were all gone."
Yes, that sounds like a great way to end the workday.
Well it looks like Americans like slow, pint-sized, eco-mobiles after all. Company officials at Smart said they expected to sell around 16,000 vehicles in 2008. Turns out it was more like 24,622.
So what made the difference? Most would assume that high gas prices played a big part during the first half of the year and there's no doubt they helped. But looking at the sales numbers, the Fortwo actually held steady throughout the year. Its numbers were down slightly in the second half, but not dramatically. Officials for Smart say they have another 40,000 customers who have put down a $99 deposit, so 2009 should remain just as solid.
We're skeptical though, especially given what we've seen here in Southern California. The lot shown above was asking as much as $28,000 for a Fortwo six months ago. Now they're down to $20,000, and there are more of them. We'll see soon enough if the novelty has worn off, or if people are indeed serious about going small to save gas.
You may have already seen the sales totals for December, and 2008 as a whole. If not, here's a summary: not good. For a more detailed look, check out the industry wide 2008 sales analysis over at AutoObserver
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We assembled something a little different though. Instead of assessing the big picture, we looked at the sales numbers for individual models. Which new models flopped, which old models recovered, that sort of thing. Some of the results we expected, others were a little more eye opening. See for yourself after the jump.
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of its U.S. launch today at the L.A. auto show, Smart USA proudly reported that it's already delivered over 20,000 of the itty-bitty microcars in the States during the past 10 months.
Smart USA Chairman Roger Penske says that the U.S. is now the third-best selling country for Smart, garnering 18 percent of Smart's worldwide sales volume.
Continuing its economical assult on America's urban areas, Smart announced its new Brabus Fortwo model, due to arrive here early next year.
Available in both coupe and cabriolet models, the Brabus Smart Fortwo will use the same three-cylinder engine as the standard Fortwo, but will distinguish itself with an exterior body kit that includes a front spoiler, side skirts, 15-inch front wheels and 17-inchers in the back. A sport-tuned exhaust also includes dual chrome-plated exhaust tips that peek through a Brabus rear skirt.
Priced at $17,990 for the coupe and $20,990 for the cabriolet, Smart will begin allowing current Smart Fortwo reservation-holders to convert their order from a standard Fortwo to a Brabus Fortwo.
Already have a Fortwo? Smart USA will soon offer an array of Brabus accessories through its dealer network. -- Kelly Toepke, News Editor
Honda introduces an all-new Life minicar for the Japanese market. The new Life is the first minicar in Japan to include an audio system with a backup camera as standard equipment. As you can see by the link, there are several faces one can choose.
With the Smart already on sale, and Toyota considering selling their iQ, do you think Honda should consider selling something like this here?
Indeed, former Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak had been with Smart USA for scarcely three days. After Penske Automotive Group's bid to save Saturn fell apart, the company snapped up Lajdziak to be its new vice president of sales and marketing. Now Penske is asking Lajdziak to preside over Smart's U.S. operations. 
