Smart Open for Business – Sort Of

Looking to buy a new smart fortwo, the pint-sized European city car finally set to make its belatedU.S. debut? Get your credit card ready as the DaimlerChrysler division will take its first deposits this week.

Officially, the first smart won’t go on sale in the U.S. until the first quarter of 2008 – probably January – according to Roger Penske, the racing legend and uber-entrepreneur who will act as an independent distributor for DaimlerChrysler. But the carmaker has begun a carefully staged roll out designed to build buzz, notes Dave Schembri, who will oversee smart’s day-to-day operations.

 

A special website quietly opened up to what smart is calling its “insiders” in mid-March. Folks who’ve expressed strong interest in the two-seat microcar will be the first invited to plunk down $99 deposits, according to Schembri. The initial response has been “overwhelming,” he asserts, and though the smart executive wouldn’t provide hard numbers, sources tell TheCarConnection.com that they expect to see several thousand potential buyers line-up with cash as soon as the digital showroom doors open this week.

 

The rollout will continue over the summer, when smart’s second-generation fortwo model is taken on a cross-country road show that will take in 44 major U.S. cities. By the time the first display models are ready to ship, around December, smart expects to have somewhere between 50 and 70 dealerships in operation.

 

Who is likely to buy the car? Conventional wisdom suggests smart will strike a responsive chord among hip, urban buyers worried as much about parking as fuel prices. But in Canada, where smart has been on sale for several years, Schembri notes that suburban and rural buyers make up roughly half the owner base and planners believe that with U.S. fuel prices once again nudging $3 a gallon, demand could prove surprisingly broad-based.

 

 

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