The recent joint venture between Daimler and Geely may be giving smart a new lease of life, but that doesn’t mean it is out of trouble. TechCrunch reported that the micro car brand is pulling out of United States and Canada, and the company has since confirmed the news, according to several other publications.
“After much careful consideration, smart will discontinue its battery electric smart EQ fortwo model in the US and Canadian markets at the conclusion of model year 2019. A number of factors, including a declining micro car market in the US and Canada, combined with high homologation costs for a low volume model, are central to this decision.
“Mercedes-Benz will carry forward its electric strategy in the US and Canada with the arrival of the new EQC in 2020. MBUSA and Mercedes-Benz Canada will continue to provide owners of gasoline-powered and electric smart fortwo models with access to service and replacement parts via smart and authorised Mercedes-Benz dealers,” the company said in a statement to said outlets.
The brand was introduced to US to great fanfare in 2008 – and in Canada four years before – with sales reaching a high of 21,146 units that year. They fell almost immediately, however, declining further when smart transitioned into an electric-only brand in North America in 2017, ending sales of petrol-engined models.
Other markets won’t be affected by this decision, as smart is going full steam ahead with the development of next-generation models. Designed by Mercedes-Benz and engineered by Geely, these new EVs will be built at a dedicated plant in China, with global sales kickstarting in 2022.
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Pull out and reconsolidate and restructure its business to plan for its survival b4 shooting to glory just like P1 did. Now they need a foreign CEO since Germans taboleh pakai.
But our Proton haven’t success yet. After Geely bought Proton, we only see that Proton is doing rebadge. We rakyat are hoping to see Proton create a game changing car after being bought by Geely but instead Proton rebadged the Geely Boyue. Proton should learn from big companies like Daimler how to create a game changing car and sell like hotcakes
Do you even hear how ridiculous you sound when you talk about game changing Daimler selling like hotcakes in this article about SMART which was under Daimler pulling out due to declining sales? Stop with the copy pasting acts, even a 5 year old kid can string a better sentence you you can.
Need to fill quota of Proton-bashing, so quality out of the window.
what? they still selling such an outdated car?
Americans loves their big block small block V8 and crossover. So how can you fit a 100kgs greasely bear into smart micro car LOL?