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Club smart Car _ Front Page News _ Penske Appoints Jill Lajdziak To Run Smart Usa

Posted by: smart142 Jan 6 2010 - 01:12 AM

by Sam Abuelsamid

Jan 5th 2010

Just a few weeks ago, former Saturn general manager Jill Lajdziak was hired by Penske Automotive to head sales and marketing for its Smart USA operations. Now, Smart has announced that Lajdziak will take over the entire operation as the new president of Smart USA, replacing Dave Schembri who has held the post since its inception.

In the past several months, sales of the Smart Fortwo have collapsed in the States, with November down 65 percent. From where we sit, Lajdziak has a tough job ahead of her, trying to find a way to convince buyers that a tiny but not inexpensive car with disappointing fuel economy and a horrible transmission is a good idea. To be fair, tilting at windmills is nothing new for Lajdziak, who worked at Saturn throughout its entire nearly twenty year run. Revamping the sales network will apparently be a big part of her job, since a revamped version of the Fortwo is not on the immediate horizon. You can check out the official press release after the jump.

PRESS RELEASE

Penske Automotive Announces Management Changes at smart USA
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI,

January 4, 2010 – Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE:PAG), an international automotive retailer and exclusive distributor of the smart fortwo through its wholly-owned subsidiary smart USA Distributor LLC ("smart USA"), announced today that Jill Lajdziak has been named President of smart USA. In this role, Lajdziak will assume day to day operations for the smart brand in the United States. Lajdziak has over 30 years of progressive automotive experience, including expertise in brand development, product marketing and customer satisfaction. Penske Automotive Group Chairman Roger Penske said, "As we look to enhance the position of the smart brand, Jill's background and experience will help us reinvigorate the dealer network and bring a greater awareness to the smart brand." Previously, smart USA was managed by Dave Schembri. Schembri will transition into Penske Automotive Group's retail operations. Penske continued, "I would like to thank Dave for his efforts over the last three and a half years with smart USA. His contributions were instrumental in helping us bring smart to the United States."

About Penske Automotive

Penske Automotive Group, Inc., (www.penskeautomotive.com) headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, operates 310 retail automotive franchises, representing 40 different brands and 25 collision repair centers. Penske Automotive, which sells new and previously owned vehicles, finance and insurance products and replacement parts, and offers maintenance and repair services on all brands it represents, has 160 franchises in 17 states and Puerto Rico and 150 franchises located outside the United States, primarily in the United Kingdom. Penske Automotive, through its wholly-owned subsidiary smart USA Distributor LLC (www.smartusa.com), is the exclusive distributor of the smart fortwo vehicle and related parts in the United States. smart USA supports over 75 smart retail centers in the United States. Penske Automotive is a member of the Fortune 500 and Russell 1000 and has approximately 14,000 employees. smart and fortwo are registered trademarks of Daimler AG.
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http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/05/penske-appoints-jill-lajdziak-to-run-smart-usa-hoping-to-stem-sa/

Posted by: ETHICAL BEEF Jan 6 2010 - 04:59 AM

Dawn and I have been in Florida for a week now mostly in the West Palm Beach area.

We have been driving at least somewhere everyday and have only spotted one Smart during the entire week. Last year we saw FIVE smarts in the same time period.

Shell V-power is going for $3.01 US/ US gal, Diesel around $2.79 US gal and REG $2.69 US gal

Still lots of Hummers and F-350 / 550 driving around.

And everyone has forgotten all about GLOBAL WARMING down here this week.

Back to reality later to-night.

James

Posted by: smart142 Jan 14 2010 - 05:17 AM

Detroit 2010: Smart USA's Jill Lajdziak says lifestyle message can boost sales

During the blur of the Detroit Auto Show this week, we checked in with fresh Smart USA president Jill Lajdziak to see what the boss has to say about her new job, sales of the fortwo in the U.S. and what's up with the all-electric Smart Ed. Lajdziak only recently joined up with Penske Automotive and Smart after spending time as general manager at Saturn. She was named to the top post just last week.

Lajdziak's main message was that the Smart brand is just getting started in the U.S. Even though sales took a serious nosedive in late 2009, "The car has more potential than we are realizing," Lajdziak told AutoblogGreen. She cited the decrease in fuel prices as one reason for the drop in sales – adding that efficiency and/or miles per gallon won't be the main focus of the brand's 2010 advertising campaign. Instead, the lifestyle of the Smart car driver will be highlighted. "We need to make sure the marketing is as innovative as the car," she said.

What does that mean? Having a dealer footprint of just 77 stores allows Smart to do some creative things to get people's attention, like short-term stores in urban areas, Lajdziak said. But some drivers really want the most efficient Fortwo possible, and that means EV. Lajdziak said that some current Fortwo owners have contacting Smart to see if there is a waiting list to get an electric version. There isn't any such list, we were promised more information in the second quarter of 2010 (think New York Auto Show in late March/early April).

Even though Lajdziak has not yet driven the Smart Ed, she said that, "it's really a natural for electric technology to come to this brand and this car, and we certainly look forward to doing that later this year." Before the car makes its arrival here, Daimler engineers are working on a lot of enhancements following all of the test fleet programs and the early test drives that are providing feedback.

Back home, Smart USA will be getting people behind the wheel of a Fortwo through the Car2go car sharing program, coming soon to Austin, TX. Smart USA has not yet discussed putting any Smart Eds into the Car2go program, but we think pairing electric drive with car sharing is a pretty brilliant option for city dwellers.
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http://green.autoblog.com/2010/01/13/detroit-2010-smart-usas-jill-lajdziak-says-lifestyle-message-c/

Posted by: Huronlad Jan 14 2010 - 05:52 AM

Short-term stores seems like a very good idea. Get more people test driving the car.

Posted by: smartzuuk Jan 14 2010 - 10:40 AM

And also, more effort to arrange sales online, and be competitive.

I have bought my last 2 smarts from a dealer through e-mail and online negotiation, not in person. Both purchased from a fair distance away.

What makes the smart special? Better than the cheaper Hyundai base model? Well, sell that.

Posted by: smart142 Jan 15 2010 - 04:14 AM

Smart Will Focus on Increased Sales Before New Vehicles

by Eric Tingwall

Without any immediate product freshening plans, Smart hopes to boost interest in the small ForTwo with stronger marketing efforts for 2010, according to Jill Lajdziak, president of Smart USA. While sales dropped from 24,662 in 2008 to 14,600 in 2009, Lajdziak says the company needs to increase volume the ForTwo before adding vehicles makes sense.

“I think we have an opportunity to grow the current volume and I think in the near term that’s what we’re going to be very focused on,” she said.

Smart currently has 77 dealers, and Lajdziak believes there’s no need to increase that number. Rather, the company will look at marketing efforts to raise the ForTwo’s visibility in other locations to drive traffic to showrooms.

“Not everybody necessarily wants to go to a retail facility,” she explained. “But taking the vehicle out and giving people the chance to test drive the vehicle is certainly a huge opportunity.”

One possibility includes creating temporary storefronts in popular shopping areas that might pop up for a few months before disappearing. Car sharing also represents an opportunity to increase Smart’s visibility.

In Austin, Texas, a pilot program using 200 ForTwos allows city employees to rent cars by the minute. Members can walk up to a car and unlock it by waving their membership card over the windshield. While many car-sharing cooperatives require users to return their vehicle to a fixed location, the Car2Go program in Austin only requires the car be left within set boundaries of the city. The plan is to eventually open Car2Go to the public.

In addition to a blue and white car dressed for Car2Go, Smart was showing the Chrome Yellow limited edition at the Detroit auto show. Smart is also preparing an electric ForTwo for a small trial program that should start this year. Mass production and distribution of the electric car will come in 2012.

Rated at 41 mpg on the highway, the gas ForTwo will see increased competition in the next two years as cars like the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Fiesta arrive with more practicality and predicted fuel economy of 40 mpg. Smart’s president, though, doesn’t think they constitute a threat.

“I think that people attracted to this vehicle are urban dwellers, they want to make a statement, they’re skewed toward technology, they’re skewed to something just a little bit different, and this vehicle offers that,” Lajdziak said. “As more competitors come to the market, it’s just good for the segment. It creates energy.”

Lajdziak was the top executive for GM’s Saturn until it was closed late last year when Penske Automotive Group (which is the sole Smart distributor in the U.S.) decided not to purchase the brand. Penske’s canceled attempt to acquire Saturn had no implications for Smart, as there was never any plan to share resources or dealers, according to Lajdziak.
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http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6611294/car-news/smart-will-focus-on-increased-sales-before-new-vehicles/index.html

Posted by: FastEddy Jan 15 2010 - 04:41 PM

I was disappointed to see only one smart for the whole week in Hawaii. Although I have at least a dozen clients there. How they are marketing it there I don't. But I think it make sense for a smart at a place where there are winding roads; and no where for go fast; and gas price were upwards of $3.77/gal in Maui.