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smart sales in Canada and the U.S.A. 2016


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I have seen perhaps ONE 453 on the road in the last six months..... I don't know who owns them - I'm sure very few around these parts.....

Car2Go will surely be buying up some, but I have not seen anything in Vancouver other than the 451s.....

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Maybe it's time for a Loyalty Incentive Program to encourage and stimulate trade-ins of older Smart cars for new.

How about $5K for '05/'06 450s and $7K and up for 451s, depending on year.

Cars must be running, currently licenced and insured.

Maybe some added incentive for original owner, knowing there's lots out there.

Both GM and Volkwagen don't want my '05 Passion with 120Km, but I'd be interested in a new 453 with the right incentives.

I know that there's very little market for old Smart cars, but MB could choose to re-sell the best of the best trades.

Marketing 101..... "incentivise the customer to help move current and incoming inventory".

And MB has to realize that there's a hell of a lot of brand loyalty in Smart cars. They don't want to loose this important factor.

Other manufacturers offer loyalty incentive lease and purchase programs, so why not MB / Smart ??

We're not talking millions here, just enough to excite potential buyers.

MB could probably pay for the entire program out of petty cash.

Pass this along if you know anybody at Mercedse or Smart, and we'll see what happens.

Can't hurt to try, right?

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When did they change the Elantra to rear wheel drive? The Elantra is available as a cabrio? Fairly certain the next rear wheel drive vehicle is pushing $30k. For a cabrio $40k or so. For those that want a cheap car, why buy anything other than a base Micra or Spark.

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Here I see "a lot" of old people in 451 smart, i thing they don't really care about the RWD..

For 20k, in my opinion you can get a more equip car with more space and everything.

If the sell don't go up, i thing this will be the last generation of smart out here.

Edited by David_18
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I too suspect that RWD is not a factor for most smart buyers. People just don't care about stuff like this for the most part.

I guess there will have to be some sales incentives to move the stock soon. They're shaping up for another under 1000 sales year unless Car2go buys up a few more hundred.

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Incentive programs don't often kick in until they're trying to get rid of the current model year's inventory before next year's inventory starts coming in. I expect if there's an incentive program coming, it'll be in the August/September time frame. And I doubt it'll be as generous as $5000+. Probably more like $1000-2000.

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  • 2 weeks later...

On a happier note, I am now seeing new 453s almost daily in Montreal. Many seem to be of the silver + black tridion variety, so I could be waving at the same (confused) driver over and over. Still, I've spotted a white + orange tridion and several blue/silver and white/black ones as well.

Driving down the highway last week, I passed an older gent in a blue + silver 450 cabrio who was enthusiastically giving me the thumbs-up as I went by. I wish I could've told him that I was a 450 owner too.

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