A unit of DaimlerChrysler is planning to launch a tiny two-seater car on the US market in 2006, and is reviewing whether to introduce the make, the Smart, in China, according to the German magazine Automobilwoche on Sunday.
Smart chief executive Andreas Renschler said distribution of the stubby little urban-jungle car would begin this year in six markets: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Mexico and Turkey.
The car, so short it can fit in a parking space crossways, still excites equal parts of love and revulsion on German streets and worries financial analysts because of the losses it has inflicted on German-American car group since the venture began in 1994.
The original sales target of 200 000 units per year has never been reached. World sales last year were 122 300. A US launch has reportedly been delayed by US safety standards that favour bulky cars. A four-door Smart comes to European markets next spring.
Renschler, the star manager sent in by DaimlerChrysler, said the Smart division would reach profit for the first time by next year at the latest. Moreover this would not be a last-quarter profit, but one for the year as a whole.
He affirmed in the interview that the Smart division could achieve sales of 20 000 per year within five years.
”We’ll do the utmost to reach this number and put an end to all the griping,” he said.
Originally conceived as a lifestyle car by Nicholas Hayek, chief executive of the Swiss watch company Swatch, the Smart’s future was only assured after Hayek sold out to DaimlerChrysler.
The assembly plant at Hambach, France has evolved into a testbed for theories about low-cost manufacturing. – Sapa-DPA