Oh, sad. I have been very excited for some time about the fact that Smart was going to be selling its wares in the US. And in fact, two Smart products were on display at the Detroit Auto Show (here are pictures of the Smart ForTwo and ForFour). But, according to Le Monde,

Après presque huit années d'activité, Smart continue de perdre de l'argent - la note atteindrait 500 millions d'euros pour l'année 2004 - et Daimler s'impatiente. After operating for close to 8 years, Smart continues to lose money - nearly 500 million in losses for 2004 - and Daimler (Chrysler) is impatient.
Apparently they pulled one of the cars they were going to display - a 4x4, of all things. Looking at their other offerings, I'm not sure how a 4x4 fits in their game plan, but if it allowed them to continue making cute little cars, I'm all for it!
Jason in Egypt commented:
You've been in Europe for too long! You really should clarify that it's 500 million Euros!!! Which means quite a bit more in dollars!
on Tue Jan 18 22:58:40 2005
David commented:
Dollars? Who uses dollars anymore? *chuckle*

No - you're absolutely right - it's 650 million dollars.

on Wed Jan 19 06:46:43 2005
Lisa Dugdale commented:
Fast Company magazine had an article about this in February's issue. They have two columnists discuss whether this was a dumb move or a smart move by Mercedes. Here's the link: http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/91/indexa.html for the 'Super Size Me' article (hey..no comments about the title..). FCFEBSTRATEGY is the password if you need it.
on Sat Jan 22 00:56:54 2005
David commented:
If somebody can make that work, forward me the article - it doesn't like it when I try it!
on Sat Jan 22 11:48:18 2005
Jason in Egypt commented:
Nope...I couldn't get it to work. No link for the article, no prompt for a password, and I couldn't guess Lisa's username/email...
on Sat Jan 22 12:04:51 2005
Lisa Dugdale commented:
Alright, try this.... use the same link, and search for the words 'super size' in the search bar on top. It's the second one down, and when you click on it it will ask you for an access code for subscribers (the one I gave), and then link you to a page with a variety of articles, including this one. And all sorts of nifty little articles including one about where a columnist looks for cases in which companies have actually used game theory, to no avail.
on Sat Jan 22 17:17:11 2005
David commented:
That one worked! Interesting article, although I always feel like Fast Company doesn't have enough meat in their articles. But the anti-FourMore sentiment made me warm and fuzzy.
on Sun Jan 23 19:31:28 2005

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