| | Chrysler to sell Smart car in U.S. in 2007-report
yahoo.reuters.com
Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:43am ET
DETROIT, June 26 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler AG (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) will announce a plan this week to begin selling its two-seater Smart car in the United States next year, the Detroit News reported on Monday.
The newspaper, which quoted unnamed sources familiar with the situation, said that the automaker would announce the planned move on Tuesday.
A DaimlerChrysler spokesman said that an announcement on marketing plans for the Smart ForTwo in the U.S. market would be made soon, but declined to comment further.
"We've always said that we would have an announcement in June, so it's close. It's imminent," said Han Tjan, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler in New York.
The move would represent an attempt to broaden the market for subcompact, a money-losing component of DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz unit since it was launched in 1998.
Mercedes took a first-quarter charge equivalent to $1.5 billion, including costs associated with scrapping the slow-selling four-seat model of the Smart car.
The newspaper said that Chrysler would opt to sell the remaining Smart model through a distributor in the United States, rather than a network of dealers.
The reported launch of the Smart brand in the U.S. market would come at a time of increasing consumer concern over gasoline prices and increased interest in smaller cars with more fuel-efficient engines.
At just over 8-feet long and less than 5-feet wide, the Smart ForTwo is small enough to fit in half of a typical parking space. A version powered by a turbocharged three-cylinder engine gets up to 60 miles to the gallon, according to DaimlerChrysler. |
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