In February 2005, Reuters reported that the Smart car had made a loss of about 600 million euros in 2004 and sales have remained relatively low compared to the company's forecasted numbers up until now. It seems as if the mobility concept of smart cars did not quite take off as the company had originally hoped. Questions have been raised whether or not the smart cars are truly economical and if its benefits justify its …show more content…
SMART should certainly utilize the Mercedes-Benz know-how on designs and innovative technologies while focusing on its electric vehicle as its core value, possibly through training programs. This would undoubtedly call for further integration between Mercedes Benz and SMART. The car would have looked innovative 20 years ago with its current design. While Smart cars may meet with wide acceptance in Europe, MCC may need to modify the product to meet consumers’ expectations if they would want to further expand and penetrate in other markets. They should establish more distribution centers and spend more on advertisements, promotions and test trials as a market penetration strategy for their current products in their current markets. As Smart cars are primarily well known for customer personalization, they should offer a highest degree of customization to meet and exceed customer's expectations. They should also look at a diversification strategy where they can produce compact buses and trucks for city use to further ease the traffic on the roads. One more thing SMART should do is to broaden the target market. They need to make the electric/ hybrid cars more appealing for consumers of wider