Apparently those who own them love them; my suggestion was more
tongue-in-cheek but seeing as how the emphasis is now on "gas sipping"
I could see the SUV crowd jumping on a deal like that.  At the moment
the Smart cars that are being sold in the US have been modified to meet
EPA standards and get only 40MPG..and cost almost double what their
Canadian cousins do (they're being sold through ZAP not Smart or MB).
I'll be sticking with the Yaris HB I just bought :)

The actual question is what MB was thinking when it decided to buy out its
design and marketing partner whose idea the concept was and who decided to
pull out...

Note that it was never meant to be sold as an MB/DC brand.  Totally separate
logo and sales organisation.  Smart sections are now popping up in Merc
showrooms  probably because the car is losing money hand-over-fist so it's a
cost-cutting measure, maybe tinged with the hope that the 'star glamour'
will rub off onto the Smart.

You may mock but the idea is not so bad, given that it is supposed to be
urban transport in crowded cities as a second or third car.  With readily
interchangeable body panels the idea was to have a funky fashion item, like
a Swatch with interchangeable bezels.  Having a motoring giant like MB
behind it would give sufficient marketing clout.  (And the thought occurs:
where do you park your third car in a crowded city?)

Trouble is, there aren't enough urban dwellers who are that fashionable...
and other small cars like the Yaris, while not being as radical, are much
more practical for a similar price.  Thus an urbanite could get away with
just the one car instead of the Smart +1 or +2 cars.  As it happens once of
my neighbours in central London has a whole range of transport vehicles:
- Smart (top-dollar Brabus version)
- Whacking great big Range Rover
- motorised two-wheeler (Vespa)
- pushbike.

And I think that Merc is diluting management time on too many niche
products.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
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[...]
I don't know what MB was thinking.