Penske Appoints Jill Lajdziak To Run Smart Usa, hoping to stem sales collapse Options

[smart142]

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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[ETHICAL BEEF]

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

[smart142]

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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[Huronlad]

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

[smartzuuk]

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.

[smart142]

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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[FastEddy]

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.

[smart142]

Smart Brillion woman leads Smart USA

By Jim Lundstrom



Jill (Jentink) Lajdziak, a member of the Brillion High School class of 1975, attributes some of her success in the automotive industry to values she learned growing up in Brillion.

“I often share this in speeches, I feel so blessed to have grown up in Brillion because I think it taught me an unbelievable work ethic and how to just have great fun. It’s a value-based community. I think along with my family, there was a community spirit that grounded me in a good value system and good work ethic,” Lajdziak said by telephone from Smart USA headquarters in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., where she is president of the company responsible for bringing the Mercedes-Benz-made micro cars to the American public.

She also credits her parents, Margaret and Harold Jentink, for laying the foundation for her success.

“My parents were instrumental,” she said. “I grew up in the business. My father was the Chevy/Olds dealer in town (Jentink Chevrolet Oldsmobile, 1943-1989), so I grew up in the automotive business. I’d got to the dealership when I was three years old and wash cars on Saturday mornings. By the time I was 10 I got to count the parts in the parts department. So I got the great work ethic from my father, and my mother as well. She was a teacher at Brillion High School and a librarian. She was also intimately involved in local politics and the local library. They were involved in everything. I certainly learned a lot from both my parents, managing multiple balls and being actively involved. I knew I wanted to be in the car business. I think it gets in your blood.”

Lajdziak really credits Brillion as a whole for instilling the work ethic and drive that has made her a respected player in the U.S. auto industry.

“My family instilled a great foundation of values, but it was also the people in the community, from the teaching staff at Brillion High School – the teaching staff was exceptionally strong and helped lay a great foundation in preparation for college – to those I met through our church or a person like Norb that I worked for.”

She refers to Norb O’Connor of O’Connor Pharmacy.

“I had the good fortune to work for O’Connor Pharmacy for, I believe, four years. I certainly learned a lot about business working for Norb. He really provided a great opportunity to those that worked for him to take the ball and run. I Remember on Sunday morning getting to the store at 5 in the morning to stuff the newspapers and get readt to open the doors for customers at 7. There’s an example of just the great work ethic that growing up in Brillion provided me.”

Upon graduation from BHS, Lajdziak attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and then UW-Green Bay, where she graduated in 1979 with a degree in business marketing.

Her first job out of college was with a Norwegian oil company.

“When I came back from that, I had the high desire to get into the car business. So that’s when I interviewed with General Motors,” she said.

Hired by GM in 1980 as district sales manager for its Chevrolet division, Lajdziak quickly rose up the ranks and by 1984 held the title of assistant manager for merchandising at GM.

“My early years with GM were great,” she said. “In 1984 I was tapped on the shoulder to be a part of the startup team to create the Saturn brand, and became a part of a team of six people to create the brand and all of its strategies to go to market. I moved around in the Saturn Corp. into a number of different positions (including general manager).”

When GM made the decision last year to sell the Saturn brand, Lajdziak made the acquaintance of Roger Penske, head of the Penske Automtoive Group, the second largest car dealership group in the world.

“I got to know Roger Penske because he was going to potentially buy Saturn,” Lajdziak said. “I worked with Roger for eight months on that transaction and when that transaction did not go through, Roger asked me to join his organization.”

Earlier this year she was named president of Smart USA, a division of the Penske Automotive Group responsible for U.S. sales of the Mercedes-Benz-made smart car (yes, it’s lower case; it’s smaller that way).

In its development phase, the smart car was known as the Swatchmobile because the idea for a small, safe, economical urban vehicle was proposed to the European auto industry in the early 1990s by Swatch watch group founder Nicolas Hayek (who died on June 28, 2010). Daimler-Benz AG, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, took up the challenge and the smart car was born.

The first smart cars rolled off the production line in 1998, solely for European distribution. Eight years later the Penske Automotive Group became the distributor for smart cars in the United States.

Mention to Lajdziak that sight of a smart car on the street brings a smile to the face, she says, “To most people it does because it’s such an innovative product, very unique in the marketplace. It is the first microcar in the U.S. market. There are other micros coming to the U.S. market, but they’re not here yet. When Roger brought it to the marketplace, it was ahead of its time in many ways. It’s highlight of my career to be in Roger’s organization and running this particular business is just a terrific opportunity.”

Lajdziak said there are some smart car hot spots around the country, citing the West Coast and Texas in particular

“We have a store in Milwaukee that is a very strong store,” she said. “It is run and owned by John Bergstrom. I’m thrilled to be working with John again (Bergstrom’s Saturn dealership was one of top for sales in the country).”

Lajdziak is far too savvy to think smart cars are for everyone.

“It’s a lifestyle car, not for everyone, clearly, but certainly is a great vehicle if it meets your personal needs,” she said. “It gets 41 miles to the gallon the highway, so very fuel efficient. It’s a 5-star vehicle, so extremely safe.”

Of course she has her own smart car.

“I drive it every day,” she said. “I’ve had this vehicle since Jan. 1st and I have 11,000 miles on it. I commute to the office, 80 miles a day just in my commute, so it’s a lot of miles. But I love it because I’m never at a gas station. I’m in a safe vehicle and it meets my needs.”

This fall will see the introduction of an electric smart car, a plug-in car that runs on a lithium-ion battery.

“We’ll have a select number of units this fall, with more production in 2012,” Lajdziak said. “We’re taking our environmentally friendly vehicle and now giving it advanced technology in an all-electric package. We’re very excited to bring this technology to the marketplace, which we think is really important to the future of our country.”
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