Gray-market Smarts could beat factory to U.S.
By Diana T. Kurylko
Automotive News / March 08, 2004
Gray market Coupe and convertible
2 U.S. importers have received federal approval to bring in
2-seaters this year.
Factory authorized ForMore 4-seat SUV to be imported from Brazil and sold by Mercedes-Benz dealers in 2006. Gray marketers could be selling Smart cars in the United States by summer, two years before Mercedes-Benz will introduce the European microcar brand here.
Two U.S. companies have been granted permission by the federal government to bring the French-built two-seater into the United States. One says it can sell 15,000 Smart cars annually in America.
Both say the 98.4-inch-long coupe and convertible could be on sale within 90 days if final EPA certification is granted as expected.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ruled that the Smart two-seaters are eligible for importing into the United States.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz USA LLC is setting up a franchise to introduce the brand in mid-2006 with a new four-seat SUV called ForMore. It has no plans to sell the Smart microcar, which was introduced in 1997 in Europe.
Coupes, convertibles and roadsters are made by Smart, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, in Hambach, France.
G&K Automotive Conversion of Santa Ana, Calif., and J.K. Technologies LLC in Baltimore applied last year for permission from the federal government to import the Smart. When NHTSA gave the importers a green light on Jan. 22, [...] says Coleman Sachs, chief of NHTSA's import and certification division. [...]
Mercedes-Benz will show its U.S. dealers the ForMore at a meeting in Las Vegas this month. There are no plans to import the current generation of Smart models into the United States, said Dave Schembri, the Mercedes-Benz vice president in charge of Smart.
Mercedes executives in the United States say Smart buyers may have problems obtaining servicing of gray-market vehicles.
"We urge all to purchase cars through the Mercedes car group," Schembri said. "We'd hate to see a customer put in the position that they have no service outlet."
J.K. Technologies says it plans to sell Smarts through a few Mercedes-Benz dealers in the Baltimore area and Florida. J.K. will buy cars from a European distributor.
The conversion company wants to sell between 500 and 1,000 cars annually and would service the cars, said J.K. Technologies President Jonathan Weisheit. The company has been working on the Smart project for about 2½ years, he said.
No scattershot
"We want to very careful with the Smart reputation in America
- our sales won't be on a scattershot basis," Weisheit said. "We don't want the Smart image to in any way be tarnished. This vehicle is brilliant in its own right."
He said dealerships that J.K. works with on conversion jobs will sell the cars.
"We can guarantee service and parts in Baltimore and Florida
- we aren't interested in importing 10,000 Smarts," Weisheit said.
He said he isn't ready to disclose which dealers will sell the cars.
G&K Automotive Conversion is negotiating with about 100 non-Mercedes-Benz new-car dealerships to sell the Smart in six to eight weeks, owner George Gemayel said. Gemayel said he and his business partners want to sell as many as
15,000 Smarts a year. They will purchase stock from European dealerships.
The longtime importer of gray-market Ferraris, Porsches, McLarens and other cars plans to buy Smarts for between $8,000 and $10,000. Gemayel said that in the United States, the vehicles will have a sticker price of $14,500 for the two-door model and $19,500 for the convertible.
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