Crazy Daisy Tour Day 3: Fond du Lac, WI to Clintonville, WI

To Road America at Elkhart Lake, WI for the Kohler International Challenge where vintage race cars compete in various classes.The Can-Am group is a highlight and makes you realize why many spectators wear ear plugs. A tribute to Mark Donohue (1937-1975) features many of the cars he raced and a book signing (“Mark Donohue: His Life in Photographs,” by Michael Argetsinger). Above is one of the AMC Javelins driven by Donohue for Roger Penske in the Trans-Am series.
Hubby spotted this smart car awning and we wondered why it was at Road America but there was no one to ask about it. On visiting the web address I found that it is the official French language Canadian smart car site but there's no mention of racing cars. Puzzling. Can anyone help?

Daily Distance: 213 km Fuel Cost: $16.76 US

GM to sell Saturn to Penske

Penske Automotive Group, owned by racecar legend Roger Penske, will buy GM's castoff brand.
By David Goldman and Peter Valdes-Dapena,
CNNMoney.com staff writers - Last Updated: June 5, 2009: 3:54 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankrupt automaker General Motors Corp. announced Friday that it will sell its Saturn unit to car dealership operator Penske Automotive Group.
Penske (PAG, Fortune 500) is owned by former race car driver Roger Penske, who owns NASCAR and IndyCar racing teams.
The deal gives Penske the rights to the 19-year old brand including its five different models. GM would continue production of only the three highest-selling models: the Aura sedan, and the Vue and Outlook cross-over SUVs, for the next two years. The Saturn Sky and Astra models will be discontinued.
Penske, which has no Saturn dealerships in its network, will act only as a distributor for Saturn cars and parts to the brand's dealer network. Like almost all car dealerships in the U.S., Saturn dealerships are independently owned businesses.
Penske has no plans to open any Saturn dealerships, said Anthony Pordon, senior vice president at Penske Automotive.
The arrangement is similar to the deal under which Penske distributes Daimler AG's tiny Smart car in the United States. Penske does operate a small number of its own Smart dealerships, however, in addition to handling wholesale deliveries of the car to other dealerships.
The deal, which GM expects to be completed in October, would save more than 13,000 jobs at Saturn and its roughly 350 dealers nationwide. All of Saturn's dealerships sell only Saturn vehicles, so they are reliant on the brand's continuation for their survival.
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smart USA Delivers 20,000th smart fortwo in the United States

Innovative Vehicle Reaches Significant Sales Milestone in Less Than Ten Months

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., (Oct. 31, 2008) – smart USA Distributor LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Automotive Group, Inc., (NYSE: PAG), delivered the 20,000th smart fortwo at smart center Dallas, in Dallas, Texas. This sales milestone was accomplished in less than ten months from the initial sales launch of the vehicle in the United States.
“Hitting this landmark just ten months following sales launch proves that the smart fortwo is changing the landscape of America’s highways,” said Dave Schembri, president of smart USA. “More U.S. consumers are discovering that the fortwo is the right car at the right time, offering a high level of fuel efficiency, comfort, agility, safety and ecology.”
The smart fortwo continues to be an attractive vehicle solution for American consumers in our value-oriented, environmentally responsible society. It is the most fuel efficient, non-hybrid vehicle in the United States according to the 2009 EPA Fuel Economy Guide, achieving an average of 41 miles per gallon on the highway. The fortwo is also certified by the EPA as a “Smartway” vehicle, which indicates good environmental performance, placing it among the “greenest” vehicles on the market.
The 2009 model year smart fortwo will begin to arrive at dealerships for delivery to consumers the first week of November. The new model adds two additional color choices for its exterior interchangeable body panels with “rally” red, a color reminiscent of a fire truck, and metallic gray joining the color pallet. The vehicle has been on sale in the United States since January 2008, and is available at 73 smart centers in 35 states.
Further information about smart USA can be found at http://www.smartusa.com/.

US Smart car distributor hikes sales estimates

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) — The US distributor of the tiny Smart car hiked its 2008 sales estimate for the small vehicle Wednesday as US automakers reel from a sharp sales drop in big gasoline-guzzling trucks. Roger Penske, chairman of the Penske Automotive Group of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Smart's sole American distributor, predicted sales would boom beyond an original estimate of 20,000 vehicles. The tiniest car on sale in the US market, accommodates just two adults. It is assembled in Hambach, France.
"We expect Smart sales will come in between 24,000 and 27,500 during 2008," Penske said. The Smart "fourtwo" car went on sale in the US for the first time in January. Penske said surging gasoline prices had helped boost demand for the small, fuel-efficient car. If Smart owner Daimler AG of Germany can deliver enough vehicles to the US, Smart sales could reach between 30,000 and 32,000 units in 2009, Penske said.
View source.
Comment: Roger Penske is "Head of Rationing" at smart in the USA with long wait times of up to a year to take delivery of the car. Smart can currently sell more cars than they can make. The underlying potential for economy cars in the USA is masked by the failure of manufacturers to offer them in sufficient quantities.
The gas-engined smart on offer in the USA claims 43.5 miles per US gallon - a long way off the real-world 57.88 miles per US gallon we are achieving with our 2005 smart diesel. Why not bring the new diesel version to North America, supposedly more economical than 'my' old diesel version? 70 plus mpg anybody? The car would be a humdinger. RLT.

Smart factory flat out

Penske to sell 25,000, could unload 40,000 this year he says. Story here.

Analysts Say This Little Car Is Going to Sell Big (at First)

Smart May Find It Has Limited Appeal in U.S. After First Year
By Jean Halliday Published: July 16, 2007

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- Are SUV-loving Americans ready for the Smart Car? Even though the micro-vehicle is rather odd-looking, seats only two and tops out at 91 mph, it will be a hit -- at least for a while -- after it hits the U.S. market in January, auto experts predict. But they question its long-term outlook.
Knowing U.S. consumers had safety questions, Smart went on tour to show off its rebuilt body. The timing is good here for Smart due to increased environmental awareness and fuel efficiency, said Vic Doolan, nonexecutive chairman of consultant Courland Automotive Practice, former president-CEO of Volvo Cars of North America and ex-president of BMW of North America. (Smart is designed to deliver 40 miles per gallon, and the brand was an "official global partner" for Live Earth.) Mr. Doolan said another plus is that savvy auto magnate Roger Penske is the U.S. distributor for Smart, which is owned by Germany's DaimlerChrysler.
Read more here.

Daimler's Smart Expects Fortwo Sales To Rise 07-President

By Christoph Rauwald Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- The president and chief executive of DaimlerChrysler AG's (DCX) Smart minicar division Ulrich Walker said Sunday sales for the Fortwo model are expected to rise in 2007.
'We're expecting the new model to push sales this year above last year's level,' Walker told Dow Jones Newswires at the North American International Auto Show.
The Smart division saw deliveries fall 22% on the year to 112,100 vehicles in full-year 2006. The Fortwo accounted for around 70% of the unit's sales last year as sales of the Roadtser and Fortwo model phased out. Walker said the internal targets have been 'more than fulfilled' ahead of the upcoming model changeover, without elaborating further.
Smart is set to launch a new version of its tiny two-seater model in April 2007, and plans a U.S. debut for the brand in the first quarter 2008. For the entry in the U.S. market, DaimlerChrysler signed a General Distributor Agreement, or GDA, with UnitedAuto Group Inc. (UAG) last year. According to previous company statement, DaimlerChrysler estimates the 'market potential' to be around 20,000 sales per year.
'I think there a lot of people out there who are looking for low costs of ownership and are concerned about traffic congestion,' UnitedAuto Group's CEO Roger Penske told Dow Jones Newswires in Detroit. He declined to give a specific sales target for the Smart brand in the U.S.
'Smart sold around 4,000 cars in Canada in its first year, the U.S. auto market is about eleven times as big as the Canadian, and if we get around 50% of this sales level here, this would be a success,' he said. Penske said he received 1,100 applications from interested dealers for a possible franchises. From these applicants, UAG will choose between 50 and 60 dealers for the brand's launch in the U.S., Penske said, adding that the company will go on a roadshow to Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit and New York over the next 30 days.
Penske reiterated that the Smart Fortwo will go on sale for 'a price below $15,000'.
Company Web site: http://www.daimlerchrysler.com

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Popular smart car leaves competition dumbfounded

Tony Whitney, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, December 01, 2006
I recently attended the unveiling of a second-generation Smart fortwo automobile in Stuttgart. It was an automotive industry extravaganza and attracted personalities from every imaginable sphere. Apart from top executives from smart and Mercedes-Benz, luminaries included ex-Formula One champ Niki Lauda and top race-team owner and multiple Indy 500 winner (and Mercedes dealer) Roger Penske.

Read full article here.

New Smart-car sales projected

44,000 possible in 2008 when Daimler releases minicar in United States

DaimlerChrysler AG may be able to sell as many as 44,000 of the two-seat Smart minicars each year in the United States when the vehicle goes on sale in 2008, said CEO Roger Penske of United Auto Group Inc., which will distribute the model in the world's largest market.
About 4,000 Smart cars were sold in Canada in the model's first year there, and the U.S. market is 11 times larger, Penske said in an interview late Thursday in Stuttgart, Germany, where DaimlerChrysler presented a new version of the Smart. No incentives will be offered on the car, which will start at about $11,000, he added.
DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche reiterated that Smart will break even next year.
Zetsche aims to capitalize on demand for fuel economy as the cost of gasoline hovers above $2 a gallon in the United States. The car gets more than 40 miles per gallon and has a range of about 400 miles, Zetsche said at the presentation Thursday night.

Read full story here.

Penske

Ramona Home Journal & Julian Journal
By Johnny McDonald

The incomparable Roger Penske is a remarkable businessman. Maybe he should run for president.
I knew him well several years ago, talking to him at Riverside International Raceway in 1962 after he scored a controversial victory in a Canadian-American Challenge race.
The rules called for a two-seat body and his was more like a single-seat formula machine. He won that argument and has been winning somewhere ever since.
Most will identify him with his race cars, winners of 14 Indianapolis 500's. Away from the track, he is in partnership with General Electric and serves as chairman of United Auto Group Inc., a consortium of 173 U.S. car dealerships and 123 non-U.S. stores.
He tops all that off with a new venture, as an importer and U.S. sales chief for Daimler Chrysler's new two-seat Smart Car.
It's a far cry from his position along the Indy pit wall wearing headsets.
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Warming up the States

Nascar driver Kurt Busch, the pole-sitter for Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, is showing off his new smart car on behalf of team owner Roger Penske. The thought of loading the small car on the RV [motorhome] has already gone round the paddock.
The new USA website is live here once you work out how to skip the annoying intro - fairly anodyne site featuring Dr. Z and RP - but an early indication that the smart is on its way. RLT

New smart will spearhead the turnaround

More rumours circulating about the next-edition smart fortwo, crucial to putting smart in the black. A highly-placed source indicates that the 2008 model will be "more comfortable and more powerful." The spec is not yet finalised but much will be revealed when the new model is launched in Europe in spring 2007. The next stage in the program will be a right-hand-drive version for the UK and elsewhere. Then the car will be launched in the USA in 2008. The question remains about detail-spec differences between Canada, the USA and other markets. Will the gas-engined car make it to Canada? Dealer sources would indicate that this is the case but HQ are not saying.

The marketing in the USA, although not tied to Mercedes dealers, will follow the smart worldwide format. The branding, look and feel of the dealers will follow that in other markets. We can confirm that Roger Penske was in Toronto recently, arriving in his private jet, to view Canadian dealerships, the market in Canada being treated as the test market for North America. Penske will head the US marketing effort and will have input into the car specification for this important market.

Smart are pleased at the sale of some 7,000 cars in Canada since the launch, running well ahead of expectation. Can they repeat the success in the far-bigger US market? RLT

Indy Mogul in smart move

To smart centre Mississauga to change a headlight bulb. Sales Representative Justin Sookraj tells us that Roger Penske is due at the dealership. Penske, in town for the Toronto Grand Prix, is checking out Toronto area smart dealerships ahead of launching the car in the USA in 2007. I recall seeing Penske racing the Ferrari 250 GTO at Goodwood in the Tourist Trophy in 1963. He has since established a peerless reputation as a team owner with many victories in the Indianapolis 500 and a successful NASCAR team in his stable.

Sadly Penske was a no show in Mississauga. We wish him well with the launch of the smart car in the states. We believe that the launch of a gasoline-engined fortwo in the United States will also see the same car for sale in Canada. Canadian smart dealerships will certainly welcome the availability of the gas-engine smart. What is Penske doing at a Champ Car race? He is believed to be brokering a deal between IRL and Champ Car to reunite open-wheel racing in the states. Bring it on. RLT

For more on the Tourist Trophy 1963 go here.

Penske Lays Out Plans for Smart Car

Washington DC July 3, 2006; The AIADA newsletter reported that Roger Penske thinks his UnitedAuto Group can profitably distribute DaimlerChrysler's Smart Car by "signing 30 to 50 franchised dealerships in urban markets, setting modes sales goals and relying on unconventional marketing techniques," reports Automotive News. Penske made his remarks last week after DaimlerChrysler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche announced plans to introduce Smart to the United States. Penske and Dave Schembri, who will be president of Smart USA, did not announce sales targets, but they have modest expectations, according to the paper. On a per-store basis, Smart dealers might expect to match the unit sales volume of Mini dealers -- about 40 cars per month. If so, Penske could expect to sell 15,000 to 20,000 per year. The automaker's total investment in the U.S. Smart network will be substantially less than $100 million, estimates Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Frankfurt.

View source.
[Photo: Dave Schembri - Mercedes Benz USA vice president in charge of Smart, who resigned as executive vice president of North American sales for Mitsubishi in February 2006.]

Roger S. Penske & UnitedAuto Group Selected as Future Exclusive Distributor

[Photo: Roger S. Penske, Chairman- UnitedAuto Group, Inc]

Read full story here.