BERLIN -- Since its introduction two decades ago, the diminutive 聪明 has sat awkwardly alongside the imposing, autobahn-eating cars that have made 戴姆勒 AG the king of the road.
New 聪明 models with quirky designs came and went, as did managers trying their luck at yet another turnaround; strategies changed as often as the funky color palette. One constant through the years: the losses kept piling up.
现在，戴姆勒再次改变立场。
这家德国公司与最大的股东浙江吉利控股集团合作，组建了一家合资公司，以将Smart转变为总部位于中国，世界各地的全电动品牌。’最大的汽车市场。戴姆勒将在该国建立工厂，并于2022年开始在全球范围内销售，从目前在法德边境工厂进口的汽车转向进口。
“This is arguably their last real chance to sort out 聪明,”法兰克福Bankhaus Metzler的分析师Juergen Pieper说。“It’戴姆勒没有’这些年来，我们只是想让品牌走了很多钱。”
From its inception, the 聪明 was a bold bet for 戴姆勒 that pushed the carmaker out of its comfort zone of big, reliable sedans with no-nonsense styling.
最初是与瑞士钟表公司Swatch Group AG合作设计的，这种球形的两座小座钟针对年轻的城市居民，他们希望用两吨笨重的金属来替代金属，以在城镇中穿行。但是，这款汽车从未像戴姆勒想象的那样流行，尤其是在欧洲以外的美国等市场。这些国家的耗油量轻型皮卡车和运动型多用途车保持了无法克服的吸引力。
戴姆勒 introduced 聪明 in Germany in 1998 and brought it to the U.S. 10 years later, but the brand never met an original global target of 200,000 deliveries a year.
问题的一部分：Smart努力定义和占据一个独特的利基市场。对于一辆实用的城市通勤车来说，它太贵了。对于家用车来说，它太小了。由于产量相对较低，欧洲的生产成本太高。还有其他选择，例如菲亚特500，丰田Aygo或BMW AG’s 微型（虽然价格更高）却提供了更具吸引力的复古包装。
实验套件
Despite mounting losses, 戴姆勒 pushed on. The 聪明 became something of a modular experiment kit for a company known for its exacting approach to car manufacturing. 戴姆勒 introduced a four-door version that was based on a 三菱 Motors Corp. platform, and a roadster that was as daring in design as it was short-lived in the market.
An SUV never came to fruition, and the original concept of making the brand electric took years to put into action. Overall, the 聪明 brand didn’证明它具有足够的弹性以适应公司最初设想的城市通勤车辆的稳定性。
大约五年前，戴姆勒推出第二代智能汽车时-这次是与雷诺汽车公司（Renault SA）及其Twingo模型作为合作伙伴-当时，一些分析家称这是使品牌正确的最后机会。戴姆勒（Daimler）积极地将汽车推广到其Car2Go汽车共享服务中，这些车辆在城市专业人员（如送货服务）或医生到罗马或柏林等交通拥挤的城市探访房屋时仍然很受欢迎。
Even so, 聪明 car sales have dropped in each of the last four months, to about 7,854 cars in February. That’s a fraction of the 160,500 Mercedes-Benz cars sold in the same period. All told, 聪明 has racked up about 4 billion euros (US$4.6 billion) in losses, Bankhaus Metzler estimates.
聪明's global sales fell 4.6 per cent to 128,802 units last year. In the U.S., 聪明 sales last year plunged 58 per cent to a mere 1,276 cars. 去年，加拿大的智能汽车销量下降了6.3％，仅为345辆。
戴姆勒 CEO Dieter Zetsche maintains that given the 2.2 million 聪明s in the street around the world, the brand “代表了城市交通的先驱，”根据周四发布的消息。
聪明’s main contribution to 戴姆勒 has been to help offset the emissions of high-margin gas guzzlers like the S-class sedan and AMG GT sports car. The boxy G-class offroader produces nearly three times the carbon dioxide as the 聪明 ForTwo, meaning sales of the petite model provide an important contribution to meeting rules on fleet-wide emissions.
吉利的作用
In its latest reboot less than a year ago, 戴姆勒 switched top management at 聪明 and outright abandoned combustion engines for electric models starting in 2020. Now 聪明 is trying its luck once more with a new push, this time in 中国, where it says it will also bring out models for bigger car segments.
戴姆勒可以指望吉利’帮助在亚洲建立更牢固的立足点。吉利董事长李书福去年购买了戴姆勒90亿美元的股份，两家公司已经联手在中国启动乘车和汽车共享服务，与市场领导者滴滴出行接轨。
吉利在扭转品牌方面建立了令人惊讶的业绩记录。这家中国公司于2010年从福特汽车公司收购的沃尔沃汽车在其新所有者的带领下复兴了。 Bankhaus Metzler的分析师Pieper说，由于吉利了解当地市场的需求，因此Smart同样有机会从中受益。
“We fully respect the value of 聪明,”李在宣布合作关系的新闻稿中说。“该品牌具有独特的吸引力和强大的商业价值。”
