smart sales in Canada and the U.S.A. 2015

[steveyfrac 73]

My 450 required $12k in repairs in the three months I owned it. Conversely, my 451 ED has been a pleasure to drive for about a year and a half now.

I'm seriously not seeing the 451 as being more problematic... Less soulful with the lack of diesel, perhaps. The dash isn't as wonky crazy as the 450, which I liked about the 450. But the 451 is actually for more reliable.

In fact, TrueDelta.com rates the 451 reliability as being pretty awesome, almost Toyota like, at 31 repairs per 100 cars per year, or, on average, needing one repair every three years ~ish. Toyota is about 25 - 28 repairs per 100 cars per year, on average, for vehicles about this age, and your average GM / Ford is 35 - 40.

So, overall, pretty good!

[MikeT 744]

You seriously paid out $12K in three months in repairs on a smart 450? Oy vey! Sorry to say, but that is just frikkin nuts.

December 2015:

USA: 669 cars (lowest since 2010)

Canada: TBA

Total Sales for 2015:

USA: 7484 (lowest since 2011)

Canada: TBA

I am starting to wonder if the volume over here is sufficient for Daimler to sustain the model. But, there was a major interruption in vehicle supply in mid-2015.

[steveyfrac 73]

It was under warranty. They replaced the steering wheel, and steering column three times, in an attempt to fix an electric gremlin, in which the traction control system would report that the steering wheel angle was improbable. It's a $3000 part.

Then the turbocharger blew. Now, normally, when the turbo blows, the oil seal goes, and you end up with no turbo, and a gutless car.

When it happened to me, the exhaust turbine mechanically disintegrated, and then she started pumping bits of flaming turbocharger back through the EGR and into the engine, where it did thousands of dollars of damage to the internals.

Then, while the car was in the lot, it was hit by a car, and Mercedes had to pay to fix that all up.

The three months I owned my 450, where some of the best months I've ever had driving a loaner B Series, to say the least. But I loved the driving so much, I came back for more. Hopefully this isn't a 'fool me twice' type situation.

[MikeT 744]

Lemon. Well yeah I hope your present one doesn't grenade too.

[MikeT 744]

I got the December and 2015 totals for Canada just now:

December 2015: 36 cars sold (lowest sales ever for December) - of which 7 were the 451 ED. So: 29 453s.

Total in 2015: 716 cars sold, the worst result since smart came here in 2004, when it was on sale for just over 3 months but sold 199 cars more than that.

[Huronlad 186]

With only 847 451 and 453 imported last year, it is hard to sell a car when you have next to none available to sell.

[MikeT 744]

How many 453s are in the country?

[Huronlad 186]

IIRC 550.

[MikeT 744]

So why are they so slow to import them, I wonder. We should start getting tons of them now if the gap in supply was that bad in 2015 and they expect to be able to sell say 2500-3500 a year.

[Huronlad 186]

The last shipments were 65 and 95 units which is a huge increase from the previous 10-20 unit shipments.

[David_18 13]

The gas price is not very high, it doesn't web for sale too.

[GoFaster 9]

I've seen exactly one 453 out in the wild. The dealer in Brampton has a couple of them out front. I don't think the average person knows they exist as there has been NO advertising.

[MikeT 744]

I have seen exactly none. And today on a 5 minute walk in small town Duncan BC I saw 4 450s and 1 451....

[dmoonen 54]

I've seen exactly one 453 out in the wild. The dealer in Brampton has a couple of them out front. I don't think the average person knows they exist as there has been NO advertising.

Well with less then a 100 coming in a month I'm going to assume there isn't much money in the pot for advertising. I honestly havent seen a single one in my travels which is disappointing.

[Huronlad 186]

I see no point in advertising until the full line-up is available.

[brd 35]

I've seen exactly one 453 out in the wild. The dealer in Brampton has a couple of them out front. I don't think the average person knows they exist as there has been NO advertising.

I have seen several on the road in the west GTA. One of them was owned by some sort of business [company logo, address & phone # decals the doors].

[brd 35]

It was under warranty. They replaced the steering wheel, and steering column three times, in an attempt to fix an electric gremlin, in which the traction control system would report that the steering wheel angle was improbable. It's a $3000 part.

Then the turbocharger blew. Now, normally, when the turbo blows, the oil seal goes, and you end up with no turbo, and a gutless car.

When it happened to me, the exhaust turbine mechanically disintegrated, and then she started pumping bits of flaming turbocharger back through the EGR and into the engine, where it did thousands of dollars of damage to the internals.

Then, while the car was in the lot, it was hit by a car, and Mercedes had to pay to fix that all up.

The three months I owned my 450, where some of the best months I've ever had driving a loaner B Series, to say the least. But I loved the driving so much, I came back for more. Hopefully this isn't a 'fool me twice' type situation.

Wow that's rough! And I thought that my 2005 pulse cabrio had it bad!

I bought it off-lease and it had had its cabrio top & mechanical assembly completely replaced by Toronto Downtown MB a few months before I bought it. No idea how many thousand $ that would have cost.

Then, while I owned it for two years, I had the following repairs done under warranty:

- The SAM was replaced and both keys had to be reprogrammed. This was after several hours of testing all sorts of engine wiring due to a fuse blowing; turns out that there was also a grounding issue which had to be repaired. I think there was about 7 hours of labour on this.

- due to an oil leak the oil filler neck cap was replaced and the entire engine compartment had to be cleaned

- due to water leaks into the passenger compartment, deformed rubber roof seals above both doors had to be replaced. This was after the dealership spent two or three hours diagnosing the source of the leaks.

- EGR valve replacement, injectors cleaned

- due to a/c not working, the refrigerant lines were replaced and the a/c was refilled a couple of times [first time with dye so they could figure out where the leaks were]. Assorted o-rings and underfloor trim had to be replaced too.

- Engine intercooler fan replaced

- Due to the airbag light being on the wiring harness was repaired.

- replacement of front suspension lower ball joints

A few months after the warranty expired, we traded the pulse in on a 451 cabrio. We haven't had any issues of note with the 451.

[MikeT 744]

306 of the total of 716 smarts sold during 2015 were the electric drive.

That of course leaves 410 gasoline-powered smarts that were sold in this country in 2015. I think, based on the fact that smart 453s weren't on sale until late in the year, and that 75% of all smart sales occurred before the end of September, that a maximum of 70 of the 716 smarts sold during 2015 were the 453.