2009 Smart Fortwo Brabus on 2040-cars

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Daimler looks to skirt France's 35-hour workweek

Daimler has a brewing labor battle at its Smart factory in Hambach, France, over just how long the workweek should be. Under a French law enacted in 2000, workers are only required to be on the job 35 hours per week, but recent tweaks to the rule allow for companies to negotiate more flexibility. Now, the automaker is asking employees for 39 hours weekly in exchange for six euros ($6.70) per hour more during the extra time and a one-time bonus of 1,000 euros ($1,117), according to Bloomberg. The plant's labor union isn't taking kindly to Daimler's offer, though. "It's a way to freeze wages without any guarantees in return," union representative Patrick Hoszkowicz said to Bloomberg. One problem is that the six-euro raise during the four extra hours per week is less than France's 9.61-euro ($10.75) minimum wage. A spokesperson for the automaker countered in the report that the changes increase "competitiveness to ensure viability." The outcome of the deal could have major effects for Daimler because the Hambach plant is a major production hub for Smart. The automaker spent millions of euros there in 2009 for the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive. The factory then received another 200 million euro investment in 2013 to prepare for the brand's latest minicar models. While a 35-hour week might sound like a dream to many Americans, it's not even truly the norm in France. According to Bloomberg citing Eurostat data, the average full-time worker there is actually on the job 40.5 hours weekly, an hour less than Europe as a whole.

Bibendum 2014: Daimler studying China for Car2go expansion

Despite a recent setback in the UK, Daimler's carsharing company Car2go remains in expansion mode. The company is currently studying the scene in China (and other countries) to see where the next batch of blue-and-white Smart Fortwo cars will land. "We are looking at the opportunities and doing a lot of market research about [China]." – Moovel China's Su Shasha Su Shasha, from Moovel China's business development department, would not confirm that Car2go would one day be available in China, but did tell AutoblogGreen, "We are looking at all kinds of locations and opportunities worldwide, and China is definitely one big market with many populated cities. We are looking at the opportunities and doing a lot of market research about it. We don't have any concrete plans for the details of the launch yet." Su wouldn't say how long Daimler has been studying China as a place to expand Car2go or when the results of the internal study would be made public. Car2go was on display at the 2014 Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Chengdu, China. Su said that the purpose of the cars on display was to gauge interest from the people attending the event. She did say that people were interested in the exhibit, so that's a start. Daimler is looking for more workers to bring Car2go to China. An online job opening for a "Trainee as Financial Analyst for Car2go China" says that the new hire will be responsible for "continuously refining the car2go China business case," supporting "the local management with business analysis on achieving the growth targets and the refinement of the business model based on the planned roll-outs" and making sure the Car2go plan doesn't run afoul of any local laws. Sounds pretty serious to us.

Smart ForTwo Iceshine won't make your hair look any better

This must be a first: Smart has named its latest special edition ForTwo after a shampoo. Not really, but clearly someone at Daimler did not do due diligence (or use Google) before dreaming up the Iceshine moniker.
The Smart ForTwo Iceshine is a special edition based on the model's Passion trim level, while Ice Shine is a variety of Pantene. Coming in white and a special azure blue, the vehicular Iceshine matches those exterior colors with white alloys and white mirrors to give the Smartfortwo a positively twenty-five year-old feel. Other equipment includes LED daytime running lamps, "leather effect" seats, and a three-spoke leather steering wheel. Interior trim is done up in - you guessed it - white, including the rings around the Fortwo's instrumentation. Frankly, we're finding all of this about as exciting as washing your hair.
Smart will be looking to push only 1,800 of these onto the German market, starting at just over $18,000 for the coupe and roughly $22,000 for the convertible.