Car parts makers in Brazil have told just-auto that DaimlerChrysler has adjourned Smart Formore development for four months.
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The suppliers were told to interrupt development of components for the little SUV scheduled for manufacture in DC’s local car plant from the end of 2005.
DaimlerChrysler of Brazil confirmed that the Formore project is on hold for three or four months, but a spokeman told just-auto that there are no problems with the model – the hiatus is due to global re-evaluation of the Smart brand.
But suppliers said the re-evaluation is all about the Formore project and there are two key issues.
One is the expected rise in price of the little SUV in the United States, the principal target market for the model. The recent decline in the value of the dollar against the brazilian Real likely would affect DC’s export goals and the model’s planned price positioning in the US. In the last two months the buying power of a dollar has decreased from $R2.96 to $R2.70.
The other problem is the Formore’s design itself. During the SUV has grown in length and lost something of the diminutive style associated with Smart.
DaimlerChrysler of Brazil would not confirm or deny its suppliers’ claims but said there are no plans to change the Formore’s launch schedule.
The Formore is currently planned as a four wheel drive SUV to be built in DC’s Juiz de Fora plant, in Minas Gerais state, with annual production capacity of 60,000 units. DaimlerChrysler previously has announced that it plans to sell half in the US and half in other markets.
The factory now makes the slow-selling previous generation A-Class.
