Smart production takes a break in Hambuch.

[John___Angela]

Snipped

Next milestone in the plant history: the smart Hambach plant produced the 1.5 millionth smart fortwo. The milestone vehicle, a white smart forwo electric drive cabrio, rolled off the production line before the beginning of the extended summer break: production will be paused for almost two months in July and August, as massive efforts are being taken to prepare the plant optimally for future production requirements with the renewal of large parts of the production installations.

The massive construction works in the extended summer break mark the largest upgrade which the plant has seen since the start of production in 1998 – among others, a large part of the assembly installations are completely renewed. The new installations, which bring state-of-the-art production technology to the plant, lead to many improvements for flexible processes in various areas of production.

Investment for these upgrades is part of the significant overall investments of more than EUR 200 million for the expansion and modification of the plant plus preparatory measures for the successor series to the current smart, which at the same time secure the plant's future. One of the largest individual projects with a total investment of more than €50 million is the new paint shop where an environmentally-friendly liquid painting process that meets the current Daimler Group standard for passenger car plants replaced the previous powder painting process. The new paint shop greatly expands the variety of paint colours that can be realised, which means that in future smart customers will also be able to choose the colour of the tridion safety cell of their smart from all available paint finishes

What they are not saying is they are ramping up for the new 453 as well. Expected to replace the 451 in early 2014. They are guarding very closely any details on the 453. No "verified" word on wether there will be a diesel offered and even if they do it will probably not make it to this side of the pond. The leaks that are out suggest that it will continue to be 4 down towable, slightly wider and about as long as the 451. Any pictures out there are apparently modified mules and not representative of what it will look like.

[John___Angela]

Yah, I think the economics of the diesels don't make sense for the North American market just from the certification process. They just dont sell enough cars on this side of the pond. I'm glad we got ours when we did but I don't expect any more. Rumours are already out on mileage for the 453 gas smart. Mid fiftys USMPG. Unclear as to what driveline would make it to this side of the pond. In the case of the 451 of the five drivelines available only the one gasser and electric are available. Although the existing engine is fairly thrifty it is not as miserly as the European models. Time will tell.

[FIRE_UP]

Hey John,
Thanks for the update. It sure would be nice if Smart would ship over the diesel unit for the U.S. And, imagine that, a car that would get over 75 mpg without having all the complications of rather large battery and all the electronic components to constantly monitor the changing of engine vs electronic drive etc. Ahhhh, but that would me too much sense. At least VW is still being smart and shipping the diesel units to be purchased for use in the U.S.
Scott