smart Centre Victoria

[MikeT 744]

Today we went to Victoria for the annual Three Point Motors garage sale (20% off everything), and this is the sight that greeted us:

 

 

The AMG pylon sign used to be a smart pylon sign, and the showroom at the rear used to be the smart Centre but now it's an AMG Centre!

 

It's too bad that the brand has fallen so hard into decline here.  TPM used to sell 25-35 smart 450s a month in the early days.

[MikeT 744]

At the peak, there were about 900 smart 450s on the Island, plus a similar number of 451s.  The 450s were sold in a fairly short period, like 54 months!

[darren 192]

Mercedes-Benz Oakville made this change a couple of years ago. Most of the other stores in the Greater Toronto Area as well. The smart brand is pretty much done.

[MikeT 744]

It's sad really.  They should stop selling smarts entirely in about 4-5 years, as the present model ends its run.  Unless they decide to pull the plug earlier.

[smart142 605]

Don't be so pessimistic.

The ED smart is excellent, and maybe enough people will come to their senses to make it a viable business option.

Many countries are looking at all electric vehicles although North America is lagging behind.

The people here seem to be looked on suv's and pickups.

[MikeT 744]

I hope to be pleasantly surprised but so far, the trend is not encouraging!

[lebikerboy 96]

Having owned a 450 cdi for ten plus years as well as having driven a 451 ICE numerous

times, I can honestly say the 453 is miles better than either. It will take awhile for the ED momentum

to build but, it will. Male North Americans seem to think that driving a truck or SUV enhances their male

prowess when, IMHO it diminishes it...

Edited October 17, 2017 by lebikerboy

[MikeT 744]

I hope you are correct!

[MikeT 744]

Meanwhile, next weekend it is "Garage Sale" time at TPM Nanaimo.  They used to have a honking HUGE smart sign on the showroom (that contained both cars, M-B and smart) so we shall see if they too are paring back and turning AMG.

 

I bought a driveshaft knuckle for the B 200 at TPM Victoria Saturday, $360 instead of $460, a thermostat for the B 200 and a few other bits.  We may pick up a few smart maintenance parts in Nanaimo, after first going to Victoria to get my 404 Coupé bumpers, cadmium plated hardware and a few other bits.  The 404C is really coming along well.

[darren 192]

18 hours ago, smart142 said:

Don't be so pessimistic.

The ED smart is excellent, and maybe enough people will come to their senses to make it a viable business option.

Many countries are looking at all electric vehicles although North America is lagging behind.

The people here seem to be looked on suv's and pickups.

 

The problem is, people have a hard time buying something they don't know about. There's next to no marketing for the smart brand, and their presence in M-B dealerships is pretty much zero, so even if people WANTED to buy one, it's not obvious where to get one, there are few available for test drives, and not many experienced sales staff to get the process underway. That would also leave me concerned about whether experienced technicians will be available as well. 

 

In Toronto, at least we have Car2go, which is a huge fleet of mostly 451 and 453 smarts, likely serviced by the M-B corporate store downtown. But if they're not going to be importing anything but EDs moving forward, that won't work for the car sharing model, and we'll likely start seeing those 453s being phased out in favour of GLA and CLA models, or whatever new entry-level hatchback and/or sedan M-B has coming out.

[MikeT 744]

Car2Go has already announced that the present smarts in their fleet will be replaced by larger M-B vehicles in the coming months.  Watch for a glut of stripper 453s to clog the used car market shortly.

[booneylander 37]

With any luck a glut of Car2Go 453s hitting the market will drive used prices down and mean that I can pick up an inexpensive manual 453.

[MikeT 744]

There should be fire sales, good time to buy a heavily depreciated nearly new car!

[smrtie 3]

Don't hold your breath on the fire sales.

I have already heard stories of ex-Car2go's sitting in a lot in Annacis Island in Richmond (the landing point for many vehicles coming from Asia).

The assumption is that they will get shipped off to a third-world country - but that is an unsubstantiated rumor.

Some local dealers bought some ex-Car2go cars - but they came from US auction sites.

 

[MikeT 744]

I am not sure this is a good vehicle for a third world country.  My Peugeot 404C on the other hand.....

[darren 192]

I wouldn't touch a former Car2go car. They've been "ridden hard and put away wet," for the most part. Lots of short trips, and generally poorly maintained. The 453 I drove on thanksgiving was filthy, shook badly above 80 km/h, and was 3600 km past it's service interval. The 451 I drove later in the week showed way worse wear than the ED I just turned in with similar mileage. 

 

Its a shame, because they are FANTASTIC cars for zipping around Toronto, and it's always easy to find parking for one. The CLA are uncomfortable, and an ergonomic train wreck. Just try to find the wipers when it starts to rain. I guarantee the first thing you do is (unintentionally) put the car into neutral. 

Edited October 18, 2017 by darren

[MikeT 744]

Don't forget, the CLA is hideous too, too small for any rear passenger above 5'4" tall and notoriously unreliable.

[MikeT 744]

 

So far, smart Centre Nanaimo's sign is still up.  There was nary  smart to be seen inside or out today though (except for the people attending the Garage Sale).

[MikeT 744]

I spoke with one of the salesmen there and he thought their smart sales were going to basically stop with only the ED on offer.  They've sold very few 453s to date, well under 10.

[smartzuuk 167]

I still haven't driven a 453 - I should actually just restart my never used car2go membership and try one... the 450 on the other hand, still doing great and drove it shortly just a week ago... about 107,000 kms on it