Rival importers in California won EPA clearance in November and plan to use a San Francisco-based distributor called ZAP (Zero Air Pollution) to sell 15,000 of the cars per year. ZAP already has 100 Smart cars in a California warehouse being converted to meet U.S. safety and emissions standards, with another 100 on the way and nearly $5 million in customer orders, spokesman Alex Campbell said.
After import and conversion costs, Zap plans to sell various Smart models for prices ranging from $12,900 to $24,000, Campbell said. The company recently put one up for sale on the online auction site eBay, and bidding reached $27,000 within a few hours. EBay Inc. asked Zap to discontinue the auction because the car had not been modified to meet U.S. standards.
The smallest Smart could fit in about half of a typical parking space. DaimlerChrysler plans to sell the cars here beginning in 2006.
(Daimlerchrysler)
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Smart itself has been watching those independent importers with both interest and concern. While the car has been a pop-culture success, it has been losing money in Europe, and sales have declined as the company has been slow to introduce new models. DaimlerChrysler has been counting on taking the brand into the lucrative U.S. market.
"We don't support their plans because we don't think it makes any sense to bring a car where you don't have a service network," said Markus Mainka, a spokesman for the company in Germany. "Even if they find their customers, who will check the cars? Who will maintain the cars?"
But at the same time, the company has been impressed by the homegrown effort to import the smallest Smart models, Mainka said.
So Smart is rethinking its U.S. expansion plans. A new management team installed this fall will consider bringing other vehicles in addition to the SUV-style ForMore, U.S.-based spokeswoman Julia Knittel said. The company will use next month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit -- the auto industry's glitziest annual event -- to gauge U.S. interest in Smart's full product line, which includes a four-seater and a roadster. The company could decide to speed or delay its U.S. debut as it develops new models, Knittel said.
Competitors are making similar calculations. None has a product quite as diminutive as the Smart, but Nissan has announced plans to bring a car smaller than its Sentra sedan to the United States by 2007, Honda is poised to market a car smaller than the Civic and BMW is considering a North American role for its European 1 Series.
Smart, which began selling the ForTwo model in Canada in October, senses that American consumers "have become more conscious about the environment, the ecological aspect, miles per gallon," Knittel said, adding: "People have become aware that maybe less can be more. We know that interest is there in the Smart. We're saying we want to do it the right way."
