Daimler's ambitious drive to sell minicars to americans who love big cars turned out to be the wrong product at the wrong time, in the wrong market. And it is not just Daimler that is in trouble in America.
　　Smart will stop selling the Mini in the United States.
　　Daimler's ambitious drive to sell tiny cars to americans who love big cars proved to be the wrong product at the wrong time, in the wrong market.
　　After years of declining sales, Daimler has abandoned plans to sell Smart minicars in the world's second-largest auto market, according to euromonitor.
　　Dietmar Exler, chief executive of mercedes-benz USA, and Adam Chamberlain, vice President of sales, said in a letter to 26 U.S. dealers on April 2 that they would stop selling the Smart model in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2019.
　　In a letter to dealers, Mercedes attributed the sales halt to a "decline in the microcar market" in the United States and Canada, and the high cost of assimilation of lower-volume models. Homogenization refers to the changes needed to bring smart systems designed in Europe into line with U.S. regulations. Essentially, Smart's sales revenue doesn't cover its investment costs.
　　Ed Kim, analyst at Auto Pacific, said the Smart brand was "simply not to American tastes".
　　In the end, the small Smart model failed to find its own appeal in a market that prefers oversize cars. Smart's U.S. sales plunged 58% in 2018 to just 1,276 units. In march it sold just 90 cars in America, down 18% from a year earlier.
　　Smart will stop selling the Mini in the United States.
　　In fact, when the Smart was launched in the U.S. in 2008, sales peaked at 24,622 cars. That didn't last long, however. As lower gasoline prices spurred demand for suvs and crossovers, U.S. consumers became less interested in the Smart, and sales went from bad to worse. In the fall of 2017, Daimler "" abandoned" "the fuel-powered version of the smart in the north American market and only supplied the electric version.
　　Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book, said the smaller the model, the harder it was to sell in the us.
　　"Small cars are stronger in China, which makes it smart for Daimler to go out of North America and into China," Mr Brauer said.
　　Smart will stop selling the Mini in the United States.
　　In march, Daimler and zhejiang geely holding group announced the establishment of a joint venture to jointly operate and promote the transformation of Smart brand globally, aiming to build Smart into a global leading brand of high-end electric Smart vehicles. Under the joint venture agreement, the new generation of the all-electric Smart will be produced in a new factory in China, and is expected to be launched in 2022 and sold globally.
　　But despite its small U.S. sales, there are some U.S. consumers who love the brand. In San Francisco, the Smart models account for about 20% of new car sales at Mercedes stores, and those sales have become the cornerstone of Smart's U.S. sales.
　　Some analysts say the Smart is a car developed for urban centers in Europe, where the streets are very narrow and parking is difficult to find.
　　'Smart is too small and impractical for most americans,' said Jeff Schuster, President of global data forecasting at LMC Automotive. Moreover, the brand never expanded beyond two or four doors, limiting its customer base.
　　The drop in oil prices has also accelerated Smart's demise. Small, high-end cars are hard to sell in an environment where consumers tend to equate size with value. For consumers, fuel is still cheap enough that there is no obvious advantage in buying a small, premium model.
　　Smart will stop selling the Mini in the United States.
　　Mini is also in trouble
　　Smart is not the only small car that is in trouble in America. In the january-april period, fiat's U.S. sales fell 42% to 3,145 vehicles.
　　The Mini brand is facing the same existential challenge in the us. In April, Mini sales in the U.S. were down 30% from a year earlier. In fact, the brand's sales have been sluggish since its peak in 2013.
　　To overcome a weak product line and avoid losses for dealers, BMW has allowed some Mini dealers in North America to reduce the size of their stores and allow other dealers to integrate their businesses into bmw-branded stores to help cover operating costs and real estate management costs.
　　Launched in the us in 2002, the Mini was an early success thanks to its retro style and association with the BMW brand. The brand also offers a wider range of models that are well-designed, more fun to drive and more practical.
　　Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book, said: "for years, Mini has been one of the few brands with consistently high residual value and lowest usage costs. It's like the subaru of the early 21st century."
　　But by 2012, as fuel prices were falling, the novelty and appeal of small cars for American consumers was waning.
　　At this point, "all of Mini's performance, including residual value and usage expenses, reversed," brauer said. That makes it one of the weaker brands.
　　In fact, the Mini is going through the same difficulties as Smart in the U.S. As Jeff Schuster, President of global data forecasting at LMC Automotive, says: "I don't think there is a viable market for microcars in the us."
　　But similarly, the Mini brand appears to be seeing promise in China. In July last year, BMW and Great Wall signed a joint venture agreement to set up a new energy car plant and localize production of the MINI all-electric model.

This article comes from: sina automobile (dongguan oneness filtration technology co., LTD.)