ABSTRACT
At least for the car manufacturing sector, the conception of the Smart car and its production site can be regarded as one of the most remarkable industrial projects in Europe over the past two decades (Table 4.1). Starting with the idea of the Swiss designer Nicholas G. Hayek (Swatch watches) to design a small city car in 1987, a new production concept based on Japanese flexible manufacturing organization (just in sequence, see below) was developed in a joint venture with Daimler-Benz AG (Micro Compact Car GmbH/MCC). A decade later, in 1998, mass production began in the so-called ‘Smartville’ plant in Hambach, France. By November 1998, Hayek left MCC which thus was completely taken over by DaimlerChrysler. In 1999 it was renamed MCC Smart GmbH. A further change to Smart GmbH took place in 2002 with a merger with its French subsidiary Smart S.A.S. The company has its headquarters in Böblingen near Stuttgart, Germany from where it co-ordinates the production activities in Hambach. The ‘Roadster’ model (launched in 2003, see below) as well as the ‘Forfour’ model (launched in 2004) are toll-manufactured at Mitsubishi’s NedCar plant in Born, the Netherlands. Since the creation of the Smart-Brabus joint venture in 2002, Smart is also co-operating with a tuning specialist to modify approximately 2 percent of the standard models according to specific client requirements, and to develop special model editions as well as accessories.
