Marketing Tip: Know your market

Smart USA is struggling. Sales are down.

1) Fuel Efficiency: 40MPG on the highway is impressive BUT people expect it to be better. Many cars have similar or better fuel efficiency without the size sacrifice (Hybrid sedans like the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight) and other small cars like the Toyota Yaris, Ford Focus which are small but not nearly as small as the Smart Car.

3) Appearance: Smart is unique in this way which is a positive and a negative. Positive because some people really like to stand out. Let's face it the vast majority of people want their cars to either look "normal", cute OR sporty. Smart is definitely Cute, but cute apparently didn't attract enough buyers.

So the lesson is: KNOW YOUR MARKET

So what is Smart doing to improve?

Smart is coming out with an all electric version of the car AND some appearance tweaks that push it in the sporty direction. I suspect that this will help a lot AND for the ones still on the lot...
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Smart USA is allowing buyers to customize their cars in any color (actually any pattern too) for $1350 - $1550 give or take. This is a good move and should make a difference. We are in the customization era.