Chrysler's Marketing Mistakes (Forbes)

Also add that much weight in front of the front wheels!

But now everybody has cab forward, and Chrysler thought it was appropriate to branch out and create a new look, as bold and as daring and as controversial as their cab-forward was in 1993.

Uh, the current LHs are fwd.

The masses? In 1979 the industry first topped 9,000,000 new vehicle sales in one year. Cars cost less than half of what they did before the feds started messing in the car business. In 1999 it topped 18,000,000 when the average car cost THREE times as much as it did in 1979. $40,000,000 used cars were sold in 2001. Gotta be a lid for every pot somewhere now that the average three year old used car is as good as new car was in 1969 ;)

mike hunt

Joseph Oberlander wrote:

Do some research on the 'Smart' you will see it is not build to meet US crash standards. There is simply not enough room to build in the collision absorbers required, front and rear. If you want economy in a small vehicle get yourself a three wheeled motor cycle like a Corbin, but then gain they cost much more than $8,000.

mike hunt

Joseph Oberlander wrote:

Yes they are Lloyd. Thank you for this fact. Although I already knew that as I own one.

Wait a second, that can't be true. JD Power uses statistical science and sends surveys to a sample of all car model owners plus keeps track of non-responses, rather than rely on a self-selected survey that is sent only to subscribers by choice of a certain magazine. So therefore JD Power can't be relied upon as an indicator of whether a car is suitable for Lloyd. :-0

Not this little car.

8 gallon tank. 50-60mpg. Do the math - it will run around as well as and Civic. 2 persons. Luggage space for 2 small suitcases. Same as a littel Miata or MR2. 10 gallon fuel tank and 40+mpg? You do the math - it gets great range.

Also, they redesigned it this year - 74HP engine available among other features. Compare this car at one end and the new 2004 Prius at the other and everything econobox in the U.S. between

10 and 20K looks like a bad deal - either not as economical as the Smart, or not as good as the new Prius. Hyundai and Kia are not good choices at $15-18K, IMO.

They are making a 4-door model next year. The point is, it is inexpensive and small. I hope they see fit to allow at least the 4-door model to enter the U.S. Give that crummy Scion a bit of competition.

Then there's the plethora of other small cars. The Ka, for instance, immediately springs to mind.

Look at their site and check out what we COULD be getting over here for budget transportation. Oh - the roadster is sweet. Note that the U.K. and Australia prices include their horrendous taxes. The real base price is much lower.(roughly $10K in Germany, for instance, which still is higher than it would sell for over here.)

There was a person running around in my town withone of the pilot vehicles. Still owns it in fact - and it is a superb vehicle. Passes emissions and crash tests as well. Why they refuse to allow it to be sold in the U.S.(something about it being too "small" despite it doing better in crashes than a small Kia - go figure) makes no sense.

Then there's the Ka. Again - why don't we get it here?

Good to hear. It looks like a winner. The little Toyota Echo hatchback they sell in Canada now - it also would be a nice little car to have. Small, cute, and affordable.

Link to DC?

Collision tests in Europe prove that it does not NEED a huge impact absorbers to be as safe as a typical sub-compact car. Mercedes kind of had a thing about not building crap when it comes to safety.

It's the U.S. standards that are lagging behind the engineering here.

I have never spoken with anyone in my life who has ever got one of those surveys. I have never known anyone who has ever spoken to anyone who has got one of those surveys either. JD Powers does not publish the list of survey respondents so it is impossible to interview them to verify that they have, in fact, ever got a survey from JD Powers. JD Powers also does not publish their scientific methodology either so it is also impossible for anyone to setup a study the same way as theirs to check and see if the results they get are consistent with JD Powers.

Therefore, because the JD Powers surveys are impossible to verify as being unbiased, they are in fact an excellent indicator to use to see whether a car is suitable for Lloyd. :-)

Ted

Maybe, but the E German government didn't object to the stuff pouring out of the exhaust (or, indeed, out of chemical and nuclear plants)...

:-((

On unification the (west) German government had to change the pollution law to permit the running of Trabants on German roads...

:-(((((

DAS

--

Because Ford US management wouldn't like to be upstaged by fine Ford of Europe vehicles running around in the USA...?...

Ford Focus has been for a long time and still is Britain's best-selling vehicle.

DAS

--

The European crash standards, while different from ours (requiring offset frontal tests, for example), are every bit as stringent as ours.

Hey, the poster suggested taking the LHs and putting the transmission in the rear.

Sigh. It doesn't. It probably could, but to pass emissions tests, among other things, you've got to have a 50,000 mile test, OBD II on-board computer, special gas cap, etc. To pass crash tests, you've got to crash several of them -- front, side, and rear.

Considering Americans' lack of interest in small cars and appetite for SUVs, lots of foreign makers see no reason to bring their very small cars here. The VW Polo, for example, is supposed to be quite good. Mercedes and BMW (with their new 1 series) may be afraid of diluting their image (the smart is sold in Europe as its own brand, not a Mercedes).

All CR subscribers get that survey. I've had a JD Power phone survey, but not about cars.

He means he thinks we'd be better off driving the 5000-pound ohv V8s with

3-speed transmissions and live rear axles and 4-bbl carburetors of the 1960s, with their high fatility rate, poor fuel mileage, and tremendous emissions. He probably also longs for an Apple II computer, a mimeograph machine, and a Philco 12" black and white TV.

That's fairly common. When I lived in Michigan, I saw non-US vehicles with manufacturer "M" plates all the time.

No, see, you're still being way too vague on the tests you say it passes.

*WHICH* emission tests does it pass? The state inspection means nothing; it's the Federal certification test that counts, and it's entirely different and much, much tougher than any state test. That's not saying the Smart couldn't pass, but we don't yet know. *WHICH* crash tests did it pass, and how do you know? Obviously your townmate's Smart isn't the one that got put through any crash tests...

DS