Source: le Républicain Lorrain
Emotion was palpable on Thursday, March 28, at the Smart factory in Hambach. The final electric Fortwo, produced by the automaker, rolled off the production line late in the morning, twenty-six years after the debut of this small city car. This marks the end of a remarkable automotive journey that made a significant impact in the late 1990s and transformed the vision of future small cars by going electric in 2012. By 2017, the entire production had transitioned to electric.
Since its introduction, the Smart had been offered in various versions, including a Smart Roadster and even a convertible, which has now become highly prized by collectors.
Barbara Weissenbacher was a temporary worker in the industry in Germany when she applied to join “Smart,” as it was called then. It was in October 1997. She was 24 years old and wanted to be part of this exciting mechanical venture. “I started as a simple assembly operator. I came from an industry where we worked in darkness and dirt. Here, I discovered another world—a quiet, ultra-modern, and clean assembly line,” she says with a smile, but with a slight pang of nostalgia.
Philippe Steyer, president of Ineos Automotive Hambach, which hosts the Smart production line (owned by the Mercedes group) alongside the 4X4 Grenadier, aims to be reassuring: “It’s a chapter that closes, but not the book.”
29 Years of Adventure for Katy Siebert-Kriegel
At the Ineos factory in Hambach, Katy Siebert-Kriegel holds employee number 1. “Someone had to start,” she says with a smile. In March 1995, at the age of 32, she was the first person hired by Johann Tomforde, the General Director of Production and Development for the Swatchmobile, now known as Smart. She joined the planning team at the factory near Stuttgart for a few months before returning to her hometown of Sarreguemines. “I saw everything from the massive construction site, which involved 800 workers, to the factory as it stands today,” she recalls.
Once the buildings were erected, Katy Siebert-Kriegel became the assistant to the newly appointed general manager and his successors. “The Smart years were my best professional years. I always faced different challenges depending on the director.”
She witnessed the entire Smart saga up close: the inaugurations, the presidential and ministerial visits, the various car generations, and the transition to electric vehicles. This ending is not without “a little pang of the heart” for the employee, who had the privilege of driving the very last Smart during this final tribute with her colleagues.
Marie-Amélie Masson
Source: le Républicain Lorrain
Image credits: Fred Lecocq
