Smiles (company)
| Smiles | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1995 |
| Seat | Aub , Germany |
| management |
|
| Number of employees | 22 (Jan 2010) |
| sales | 3.37 million EUR (2010) |
| Branch | Electric vehicle manufacturer |
Smiles was a company in Aub , approx. 35 km south of Würzburg, which manufactured and sold electric vehicles (the CityEL ) from 1996 . From 2009 Smiles was also the general importer for the Indian electric car brand REVA and one of several importers for the Italian electric vehicle Tazzari Zero . Smiles was also the importer of the Beepo Pony electric pick-up .
Smiles had a Germany-wide dealer network with around 100 dealers for sales , service and repairs for everything to do with electric vehicles.
According to traffic statistics, on average 80% of daily car journeys take place with a maximum of 2 people and on distances of less than 50 km. Smiles wanted to use this fact to open up the market for electric vehicles. The main target group were commuters and companies that need electric vehicles for their fleet or want to use them as advertising media.
The company has been in bankruptcy since February 2012, and Citycom GmbH will continue to operate.
Company history
The entrepreneurial roots of Smiles were on the one hand the former Danish CityCom Randers A / S, on the other hand the former Nestmeier Solartechnik GmbH, which has been intensively involved with electric vehicles since 1992.
In 1994 sales for Germany were reorganized.
In 1995 CityCom Elektromobile GmbH was founded, which took over the Danish company and relocated production and sales to Germany with considerable investments .
In 1999 CityCom Elektromobile GmbH was transferred to CITYCOM AG, which has since had its headquarters in Aub-Baldersheim near Würzburg.
In 2002 the new buildings in Industriestr. 5–9 built and occupied. The building concept with environmentally friendly building materials, low energy standards and regenerative energy supply reflects the company philosophy of the company. From then until 2009, the core business was the production of the world's best-selling CityEL electric vehicle.
In 2009, extensive activities were started to realign the company in order to anchor it even more firmly in the area of e-mobility: the name was changed to Smiles AG. Under this new umbrella brand, the "Smiles-World" was created, which aims to position itself as the professional supplier of electric vehicles , green electricity , charging technology , etc. Start as a German general importer for the Indian electric vehicle manufacturer REVA and as an importer for the Italian electric vehicle manufacturer Tazzari.
2012 On February 24, 2012, Hartmut Friedrichs, CEO of Smiles AG, filed an application to open insolvency proceedings at the responsible local court in Würzburg. After efforts to find a rescue company, insolvency administrator Markus Schädler from the Würzburg law firm Bendel & Partner denied the insolvent Smiles AG the prospect of continuing business operations: "It can't go any further", he said in an interview with "kfz -betrieb ONLINE".
In the meantime (since mid-2012) the CityEl electric cars have been produced again by Citycom GmbH , whose company owner Karl Nestmeier had already brought CityEL / MiniEL production from Denmark to Lower Franconia in the 1990s.
Corporate form
Smiles was a registered stock corporation whose shares had been traded over the counter on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2007 . The security identification number was 688180.
Corporate philosophy
The guiding principle of Smiles was “How much car do people need?” Or “How much cars can the world take?” Smiles wanted to offer a form of mobility that is more environmentally friendly, more practical and cheaper than conventional solutions. In doing so, the unnecessary luxury equipment of the electric vehicles was deliberately omitted, among other things to save weight and thus to save energy.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ SMILES AG wants to be profitable. www.oekonews.at Internet portal, August 12, 2011.
- ↑ DGAP-News: SMILES AG: Beepo electric utility vehicle new in the product portfolio / Significant increases in order backlog and sales. AdHocNews internet portal, June 17, 2010.
- ↑ a b http://www.cityel.de/index.php/unternehmen
- ↑ Financial Times Deutschland, February 27, 2012: SMILES AG: Management Board of Smiles AG applies for insolvency. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. inserted March 10, 2012.
- ↑ kfz -betrieb ONLINE, February 29, 2012: Smiles AG has no future - insolvency administrator terminates all employees. inserted March 10, 2012.
