Roger Penske, Mercedes-Benz’ chosen importer for their smart fortwo city car, sounds very excited about the long-term prospects for the 2-seater in America. After all, if the car succeeds outside of cities, it clearly points to a lack of fear in terms of highway driving; sitting beside 18-wheelers on the interstate; and enduring long trips. These are issues which hundreds of thousands of buyers across the world have ovcrcome; most recently in Canada.
And now, in the United States. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that 1,800 smarts have been registered in the States. 30,000 more people have their $99 deposits down and are waiting. Interestingly, the upper-end fortwos have wrought greater uptake than expected, with the fully loaded examples forming 10% of the sales rather than the expected 4%, says Edmunds.com. The average number of dollars spent on options is equivalent to 15% of the MSRP.
Of course, Penske said in that Edmunds article that even on its own, “Los Angeles alone would be our number-one state in sales.” Along with that, dealers in places like Pittsburgh are dying for more cars.
