MikeT Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 (edited) I thought I'd start a thread about US smart sales to complement the one on CDN smart sales..... Month: monthly sales / total to date Jan: 641 / 641 Feb: 1101 / 1742 Mar: 1734 / 3476 Apr: 2683 / 6159 May: 2695 / 8854 June: 2545 / 11,399 July: 2558 / 13,958 Aug: 2420 / 16,378 Sept: 1778 / 18,156 Oct: 2236 / 20,392 Edit: updated January and February figures. Edited November 4, 2008 by Mike T Quote
deezle Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 I expect those numbers would be twice as big if the assembly plant could turn out the product. They really need a North American plant to meet the demand. Quote
smartzuuk Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 Couldn't they up the production in Hambach a bit? Quote
MikeT Posted November 4, 2008 Author Posted November 4, 2008 They are maxxed out on two shifts (580-600 cars per day) and will probably consider a third, subject to seeing how demand holds out in the established markets. Brazil and China will be a big test, and I suspect they will go to a third shift sometime in 2009, unless the world economy collapses. Quote
smartzuuk Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 better to sell a few less and remain profitable....... I say good on them for sticking with the plan Quote
pghjake Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 As I understand it, they need a certain amount of down time in each wing per day to recalibrate and service the robots, assembly tools, etc., and have been holding off adding another shift to avoid any QC issues. Quote
Duck Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 Robots don't need to be recalibrated daily, and should never require service on a daily basis. (I design automation/robotic assembly lines)-Iain Quote
ianjay Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 Yeah, and we carbon units want more. I'd like to talk to the robots about my failing a/c sometime, umm, buzz, click.Ian Quote
Duck Posted November 4, 2008 Posted November 4, 2008 Talk to them about the welding and paint job on your Tridion, and the installation of your dash or windscreen perhaps - but the A/C lines (and other pre-assembled harnesses) would have all been installed by manual labour. So you'll have to talk to Réne or Claudette in FA! * - 451 dash is manually installed this time around, because of the shape. It was easier on the 450 to install automatically and was designed that way from the start. -Iain Quote
MikeT Posted December 3, 2008 Author Posted December 3, 2008 Month: monthly sales / total to date Jan: 641 / 641 Feb: 1101 / 1742 Mar: 1734 / 3476 Apr: 2683 / 6159 May: 2695 / 8854 June: 2545 / 11,399 July: 2558 / 13,958 Aug: 2420 / 16,378 Sept: 1778 / 18,156 Oct: 2236 / 20,392 Nov: 1889/ 22,281 Quote
VRsyncro Posted December 3, 2008 Posted December 3, 2008 (edited) Month: monthly sales / total to date Jan: 641 / 641 Feb: 1101 / 1742 Mar: 1734 / 3476 Apr: 2683 / 6159 May: 2695 / 8854 June: 2545 / 11,399 July: 2558 / 13,958 Aug: 2420 / 16,378 Sept: 1778 / 18,156 Oct: 2236 / 20,392 Nov: 1889/ 22,281 Thanks Mike for these numbers! Is Smart on track in the US in terms of their sales forecasts?Also, would a N.Am plant bring down the price of a Smart? (I would suspect that we are getting fleeced on duties, etc...) I would also link the downturn in sales to the reduced cost of gasoline (would there be a way to track the average monthly price per gallon with the monthly sales of 451's?) Edited December 3, 2008 by VRsyncro Quote
MikeT Posted December 4, 2008 Author Posted December 4, 2008 (edited) I think you will find that they are exceeding sales forecasts.Duties in Canada are low, under 7% IIRC. They would not build a plant in N. America, I think - it is a high cost continent like Europe.You would probably be more right in saying that any decrease in sales for November is more related to the generally devastated US car market than it is to the decreasing price of fuel. Edited December 4, 2008 by Mike T Quote
Francesco Posted December 4, 2008 Posted December 4, 2008 And the difficulty obtaining credit in the US, specifically. Quote
MikeT Posted January 6, 2009 Author Posted January 6, 2009 Month: monthly sales / total to date Jan: 641 / 641 Feb: 1101 / 1742 Mar: 1734 / 3476 Apr: 2683 / 6159 May: 2695 / 8854 June: 2545 / 11,399 July: 2558 / 13,958 Aug: 2420 / 16,378 Sept: 1778 / 18,156 Oct: 2236 / 20,392 Nov: 1889 / 22,281 Dec: 2341 / 24,622 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.