Customized Smart Car

As sales of the little Smart car slow down, the company is finding a new way to reach out to customers. They’ve launched a unique customization program.

Smart Expressions, as it’s called, allows customers to choose how they want their smart to look, to the smallest detail.

“We’ve got 94 set colors that customers can choose from, or they can pick something they want at home, an old track jacket, or the color of their dog, and we can paint that as well,” says Kim McGill, who’s Vice President of Marketing and Advertising for Smart USA.

This kind of customization is easier to do with a Smart car, because the vehicle has interchangeable panels. In fact, Smarts are routinely sent to the United States unpainted. The colors are added later.

In addition to colors, Smart can do vehicle wraps, allowing for just about any look a customer would want. Cost starts at around $1300, and goes up depending on how much customization is needed.

Smart Car

When the Smart launched in the United States, people were ordering the vehicle a year in advance. But, like most unique vehicles, sales fell off after the pent up demand eased.

Smart had been banking on fuel economy being a prime selling point for the little vehicle, which gets around 40 miles per gallon. But gasoline prices haven’t risen at the rate many expected, and generally speaking, Smart buyers aren’t getting the vehicle for practical reasons.

“The people that buy this car really want to be expressive,” says McGill. “We’re finding that it’s really a life style purchase for people. “They’re buying to have fun, to really express themselves, to enable a lot of enjoyment.”