All Cars, All the Time

Smart in San Francisco

Okay, so I'm back from SF. The fortwo cabrio was a lime green color. The dealer said it was a diesel, so I imagine that they just trucked it down from Canada. The car was located right by the receptionist (I'll post pictures tomorrow). Not that much enthusiasm from the dealer. The questionnaire was really a joke. It was maybe 10 questions: what traits do you associate with smart, how much do you think it costs, would you buy one. That was it. It was beginning to smell a bit fishy--almost like the SF dealer brought the car in themselves. The salesman that I spoke with said that MBPS had indeed placed the car there. You could tell that he wasn't a "product specialist" and he even mocked the safety of the car "I wouldn't want to get hit in one of these."

As for overall interest in the car, when we walked in, the first person to greet us asked if he could help and when we said that we were here to see the smart, he said "Wow, everybody is coming to see that smart!" The second salesman wasn't so upbeat--"We've had some interest, but we should park in near Union Square, then we'd have a ton of interest." I tend to agree with him--the car is an attention grabber. He also mentioned that their new facility which will be opening soon was originally going to be a smart showroom, but since that fizzled out they were going to move the MB showroom there. The sales rep also said that they are showing smarts in other major US cities as well. What does all this mean for smart? My money is on a second generation fortwo intro in late 2007 as a 2008 model. The fortwo is a very unique car and deserves a chance, certainly in our bigger cities. I hope that MB will give the fortwo its due.