Kobe Bryant is joining the brand as smart aims to increase its emotional appeal to Chinese customers. Photos Provided to China Daily

It is hard to find a car that compares with Mercedes-Benz's smart car. It is agile on city roads, and is not only one of the shortest mass-produced cars in the world with a cute shape, but also combines unique design, leading safety standards, and eco-friendly technology.

"It's a car for all kinds of people. I couldn't even define its target audience by age, gender, or social status, as I can easily define it for our S-Class, or A-Class customers," said Bjrn Hauber, executive vice-president for sales and marketing at Mercedes Benz (China) Ltd.

The car had its debut in the China market in April 2009, and has been quite popular among urban consumers.

"It far beat our expectations only a year after the debut, when smart sales in China reached over 4,000 units. And the figure of 2,300 deliveries in the first three months of this year represents an unprecedented year-on-year growth rate of 463 percent," he said.

"The first quarter figure nearly equals total sales for 2009, and is higher than the figure for the first half of 2010."

Stefan Herbert, head of smart operations at Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd, had this to add, "As a result of the exceptional smart performance, China has now become its third-largest market. The extraordinary growth of smart demonstrates its potential for continued success in China."

More dealers needed

Mercedes plans to put a lot of efforts into expanding its smart dealership network across China, not only in the big cities, but also in second- or third-tier cities, Herbert said.

"We've seen success at our new dealerships in Shunde, in Guangdong and Kunming, in Yunnan. They started their smart business at the beginning of the year, and each has sold more than 80 cars since then, which is more than our original expectation for the whole year," he said.

"And another dealer in Hangzhou reported monthly sales of almost 100 units in March."

Mercedes is thinking of giving everybody an opportunity to test drive the smart, and will begin a national road show next month, traveling to cities with dealerships.

To further increase sales, Mercedes-Benz put 11 models from the smart family on display at the Shanghai auto show, bringing some surprises and more lifestyle choices to consumers.

"It's a great solution for urban driving problems with its comparative advantages in parking, fuel consumption, agility, and fashion, and we're confident about smart's China potential," said Hauber.

According to Herbert, when Mercedes first thought of designing a car for urban driving, back in 1972, they all of these characteristics came to mind.

"We even considered designing the smart car as electric vehicle with a long-term perspective," he added.

The smart reached 1 million in unit sales by 2008, just 10 years after the first model appeared in 1998, which proved that the automaker was right.

"By now, we've sold 1.2 million smart cars around the world, making the two-seater car a new mobile style," said Hauber.

"The hot market response in China just served to reinforce our confidence in it even more."

Brand ambassador

In February, Mercedes signed NBA basketball star Kobe Bryant as the smart brand ambassador to China, to push the "Big, in the city" idea.

"Kobe's passion, agility, wisdom, and creativity blend seamlessly with the smart spirit, and demonstrate to Chinese consumers the fresh, distinct philosophy of the 'Big, in the city' campaign," said Hauber.

"He's not only a star basketball player, but a social star, especially in lifestyle, which perfectly fits our smart brand image."

Herbert localized it with this, "As the Kobe partnership matures, we continue to have confidence in the China market for the smart brand, and we'll bring even more surprises to Chinese consumers to meet their individualized needs.

As part of the brand's two-year anniversary celebration in China, smart will have special incentives. From April 18 to June 18, potential customers will be offered a year free of auto insurance, a service voucher worth 888 yuan, and a zero-interest loan of up to 24 months.

Rabbit Edition

Chinese fans may have even more reasons to be attracted by the brand this year: the company has introduced a 2011 Rabbit Edition for the Year of the Rabbit, with two engine choices, priced between 138,888 yuan and 158,888 yuan.

The Rabbit Edition comes with an all-white body and rabbit-type design elements. And a special gift package with a rabbit head pillow, rabbit key chain, rabbit bottle and eye-catching rabbit stickers for the fuel cap, front and rear bumpers, and gear knob.

The smart forspeed - smart's new concept car - also made its Asia debut at the Shanghai auto show.

It comes with a series of innovative design concepts, such as an open-top and a responsive, zero-emission electric drive at the rear.

The company said it not only brings sporty style to an extreme level, but also creates a benchmark for next-generation transportation solutions.

Also featured at the Shanghai auto show is the smart 2011 edition, which first appeared at the Guangzhou Auto Show last year.

With its inherited unique design concept and outstanding safety standards, the smart 2011 edition also offers two additional turbocharged engine variants, the 62 kW and 75 kW Brabus xClusive Coupe, over and above the original 52 kW mhd engine, greatly improving the driving experience while not compromising eco-friendliness.

(China Daily 04/22/2011 page13)