Smart Starts U.S. Tour

[Brendan Moore]

Reprinted from Autosavant - complete except for image of Smart Fortwo.
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Smart Starts U.S. Tour

By Brendan Moore

05.23.2007

United Auto Group (UAG), the sole distributor of the Smart car in the United States, has kicked off a national road tour of cities where Smart franchises are likely to be awarded. Smart “Fortwo”cars will be available for the public to look at, sit in and drive. Product consultants will be available at each stop to answer questions, and the average stop in each city is expected to last about five days. If a dealer franchise is awarded in a city before the tour makes its stop in that respective metro area, then the new Smart dealer will participate in that particular show. Smart has not announced any dealer selections at this time.

The tiny Smart will be a new experience for most American drivers – it is 106 inches long. This means the Smart Fortwo is three feet shorter than a Mini, which many Americans consider to be too small a car.

Three Smart tour crews are traversing the United States, but since the average stop will last about five days, and they may stop at as many as 70 cities nationwide, the Smart road show is not expected to end until November. Hopefully, there will also be tour jackets for the road show cast and crew, and who knows, maybe even a documentary later.

The Smart cars are scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. in January 2008. Prices for the three levels of the Smart Fortwo have not been announced, but UAG has stated the base level Fortwo, the Pure, will be priced at less then $12,000. UAG has taken over 13,000 refundable $99 reservation deposits on the Smart car so far. The reservation entitles the holder to the “right of first refusal” on one of the future Smart cars.


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[Merc1]

That January on-sale date is very interesting since I have yet to see anything in the way of new facilities for Smart franchises.

M

 

[Brendan Moore]

That January on-sale date is very interesting since I have yet to see anything in the way of new facilities for Smart franchises.

M

There are no new facilities because Smart still has not awarded a single franchise to anyone. They say they are now working on the "short list". But they're cutting it awfully close if they're going to be selling cars in January. The dealers need to know if they got a franchise before they're going to commit to square footage, service bays, parts inventory, signage, etc. All of that stuff costs money, and it also takes time to put it all in place. Seems like there's enough demand for the Smart product - but, they need to get their distribution netowrk in place.

 

[Merc1]

There are no new facilities because Smart still has not awarded a single franchise to anyone. They say they are now working on the "short list". But they're cutting it awfully close if they're going to be selling cars in January. The dealers need to know if they got a franchise before they're going to commit to square footage, service bays, parts inventory, signage, etc. All of that stuff costs money, and it also takes time to put it all in place. Seems like ther's enough demand for the Smart product - but, they need to get their distribution netowrk in place.

Yeah that sounds about right. I figured that January start date was iffy to say the least.

M

 

[drronh]

I saw a fourtwo on the road 3 days ago and was thinking about getting one to use as a pit car at the race track- keep it in the trailer and drive from the paddock to the hotel, and to let the kids use it on Halloween to go trick or treating, etc- it depends on service, because when I had a Mini it was pain with no dealers around.