Smartville, Hambach, France

Smartville is a purpose-built factory complex in Hambach, France, established in 1994 as a joint venture of Daimler-Benz and the Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch to produce the Smart car. Today it is fully owned by Daimler AG.

The "smart" production site in Hambach (France) with its 2,000 workers is among the most modern automobile production plants. It has been built for 450 million Euros and has started production in 1998. In order to achieve optimized production processes the plant is arranged in the shape of a cross; in each of its four extensions different assembly works are provided. The centre, the so-called market place, serves as a test room for completed vehicles and for refinishing operations. The centre is multi-storied; thereby all the administrative, IT and changing rooms could be implemented in one central place.

The factory was officially opened in 1997 in the presence of Jacques Chirac and Helmut Kohl.

The decision to locate the plant in French Hambach rather than the Black Forest site in Lahr (which had also been seriously evaluated) was made for several reasons. Lorraine and the region around Hambach were shaped by the heavy industry in former times. With the decay of this economic branch a considerable proportion of the population became unemployed. From the EU funds for economically underdeveloped regions as well as from the French government appropriations for an industry settling were available that would not have been provided in Lahr. The high unemployment provided the advantage of a high labor potential for a substantial new manufacturing plant. The Hambach site was closer to the Autoroute than the Lahr site would have been, though both sites are well served by Autobahn connections. Finally pivotal were the vast area reserve and the lower wage level in Lorraine. Calculations resulted in 75 Euros lower production costs for one Smart at the French production site than on the German site. Modern Toyota-inspired production philosophy also necessitated a large surrounding land area so that key suppliers could have their own assembly or warehousing facilities on the same site as the Smart plant.

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