Mercedes Markets its New Smart Car in the United States

he luxury automobile manufacturer, Mercedes, is planning to re-launch its smart car in the United States, where it has not taken off as the company had hopes.

Although the Mercedes smart car has gained some dedicated fans, it still has not attracting sufficient buyers. Mercedes feels that this could be due to the fact that not many people within the United States have heard about the Smart brand, which means they will not go looking to purchase it.

Mercedes just finished launching a special TV ad campaign which was specifically developed to educate American consumers about the Smart car. The ad campaign focused on helping people prioritize energy saving methods by 


using the Smart car to reduce energy consumption. 
The ad calls for consumers to think about their necessities rather than luxuries. The first ad focuses specifically on helping American consumers familiarize themselves with the Smart car which up until now has not received much coverage in the United States.

Certain experts agree that this is a good step for the auto manufacturer, commenting that if consumers do not about something, they are unlikely to buy it. Other analysts disagree with this sentiment saying that while Smart has not sold well in the United States, it is not because people are unfamiliar with the car; rather, Americans simply feel that the car is too small for them.

While Europe has long since embraced smaller vehicles such as the Smart car, the Mini Cooper and the VW Beetle, these vehicles have had difficulty in the United States because Americans still seem to hold a preference for larger models, despite the hikes in fuel prices.

The Smart car sold well in the United States for a short while in 2008, but interest for the vehicles quickly died down again. A spokesperson for the Mercedes marketing department in the United States commented that American consumers did not seem to be very familiar with the Smart car.
Some surveys showed that a majority of American consumers did not even know what a Smart car was. A public relations spokesperson for Mercedes said they would be focusing on emphasizing the attractive features of a Smart car, such as safety.

Mercedes executives are hoping that its sales of the Smart car in the United States will pick up once the fuel-efficiency standards there become more strict, which will raise the demand for vehicles which are more fuel efficient. Other auto manufacturers of smaller vehicles are also hoping for better sales with the new fuel-efficiency standards, including the developers of Fiat 500 and the Scion iQ.

The auto industry in the United States is likely to change drastically within the coming years, and many auto manufacturers are aiming to be ready for the change. In Europe Mercedes has had great success with the Smart car, selling over 1.2 million of the vehicles since they were released in 1998. An electric version of the Smart car is currently also being developed. 

Posted in: cars news