Smart Car Coming Next Year

Post by **Dardedar** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:10 pm

DAR
Smart car is coming next year but it is going to be a niche gimmick thing and over priced. You can get a cute small four seater Toyota for considerably less (perhaps 10k less) and it will get about the same mileage (and seat four instead of two).
Smart cars are about $11,000-12,000 (US) in Britain. They were starting at about $13k (US), in Canada. I have heard they are going to be $25,000+ in the US (that's what ZAP is charging right now for their modified european version). So if you want a Smart Car in the US, you are going to get screwed.

***
Lilliput car heads for land of giant trucks

by Jitendra Joshi Mon Jan 8, 8:47 AM ET

DETROIT, United States (AFP) - So small it can fit into a parking space sideways, the tiny "Smart" car is making waves in the land of the giant pickup truck after proving a quirky hit in Europe.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Smart "fortwo" has been drawing curious crowds at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which opened to the press Sunday, with the words "Coming to the USA in 2008" emblazoned on its stand.

Part of the Mercedes-Benz division of German-US company DaimlerChrysler AG, the tiny car has become a familiar sight on Europe's congested roads since it was launched in 1998, although the project has yet to make a profit.

But in the United States, proud home to gas-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), the notion that such a car might prove a hit seemed laughable until only recently.

According to DaimlerChrysler chairman Dieter Zetsche, even the group's head of US sales once "said it would fall into a pothole in Manhattan and you couldn't find it any more."

"That's not the attitude people are showing today. The Smart is simply cool," he said on an ice rink laid out to introduce new Mercedes-Benz cars, insisting that US drivers were ready for the two-seater vehicle.

"I think the simple equation that the larger the car the better, doesn't apply that much to the US market any more either."

DaimlerChrysler says that more than 770,000 Europeans have chosen the first generation of the Smart, which now comes in four models including a four-seater and a sporty convertible, often to replace a larger car for city living.

Now, with higher fuel prices hurting US drivers' wallets and traffic gridlock commonplace in the urban jungle, DaimlerChrysler says the vehicle with shopping-trolley dimensions will take off.

Company officials point to the Smart's relative success in Canada, where the brand was expected to shift 1,500 units in its first year but has ended up achieving more than 4,000 sales.

At 2.5 meters long (8 feet, 2 inches) and weighing in at a mere 990 kilograms (2,180 pounds), the two-seat Smart car is about half the length and a third the weight of a Hummer, Ford Expedition or other large SUV.

And with fuel consumption of over 40 miles per gallon (3.8 liters), it is half as thirsty as the bigger SUVs.

Some Smart cars have already sold in the United States through unofficial resellers such as Zap! Cars.

But DaimlerChrysler has teamed up with motor racing legend Roger Penske and his UnitedAuto distribution group with a plan to put the Smart on general US sale in the first quarter of 2008.

"The Smart fortwo is coming to the USA at the right time," Penske said at the Detroit auto show.

"Volatile gas prices, urban congestion and America's acceptance of smaller vehicles will make the Smart fortwo a real home run here in the United States," he said.

The outgoing president of the Smart division, Ullrich Walter, told AFP the company had been inundated by requests from US dealers wanting to sell the Smart.

The unit is maintaining "conservative" sales targets, he said, adding that Smart as a whole should break even this year and turn a profit in 2008.

Jesse Toprak, executive industry analyst at auto website Edmunds.com, said questions could surround the Smart car's safety alongside beefy pickup trucks.

"It'll take a lot of marketing dollars to get across the message that they are safe," he said.

"But if you drive around Europe, they're everywhere. They're practical, they're stylish and they get great gas mileage," Toprak said.

"Low running costs, combined with a hip image, will appeal to a wide enough market that DaimlerChrysler will be able to sell as many as they can import into the US for at least a few years."

LINK

Barbara Fitzpatrick · Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:13 am

They'll probably do well in the more congested cities (NYC, LA, etc) - although a $25K price tag will slow down sales considerably. I wouldn't mind something that small - but 40 mpg isn't worth it. I want a flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid - with my auto usage, I'd get about 400 mgp.

Post by **Dardedar** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:26 pm

UPDATE:

Looks like smart cars are going to start at about $11,600. Cool.

Tiny Smart cars aiming to make it big in USA

by Tangi Quemener Tue Nov 13, 8:53 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - They might measure a mere 2.5 meters (eight feet) in length and only be capable of carrying two passengers, but tiny Smart cars are aiming to make it big in the United States, where hulking gas-guzzlers have long been the kings of the road.

As more than one million car enthusiasts prepare to descend on this week's Los Angeles Auto Show, one of the central attractions is expected to be Daimler's "Fortwo" Smart car, which goes on sale in the US next year.

Retailing at 11,600 dollars, Smart cars are cheap, easy to maneuver, and fuel-efficient, running at around 40-45 miles (65-72 kilometers) to the gallon.

But will they catch on with American motorists? Smart USA spokesman Ken Kettenbeil is convinced they will.

"We definitely think that the Americans are ready for the Smart Fortwo," Kettenbeil told AFP.

The company has already received 30,000 reservations for the car, which its manufacturers hope will catch on with city-dwellers hoping to escape increasingly gridlocked roads.

"When you look at all the factors, besides the interest, rising gas prices, increasing congestion in urban cities, all of those factors are hitting at the right time when smaller vehicles like the Smart car make a lot of sense, economically, and at a functional level for many people," Kettenbeil said.

Kettenbeil believes the car's impressive fuel economy could also be attractive to environmentally conscious opinion leaders and trendsetters in large cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen auto museum in Los Angeles, which has recently hosted an exhibition of "micro-cars," believes that the Smart car is the first vehicle offered to American buyers that ticks all the right boxes.

"People here like comfortable cars, that they can sit in and turn on the stereo, the air conditioning, put down the top, open the sunroof," Kendall said.

"Until recently ... no small car was available that was a truly quality automobile, with performance, features, handling, in a small affordable package. And the Smart speaks to all of that.

LINK