Filed under: EV/Plug-in, SMART, AutoblogGreen Exclusive
Smart made a splash last fall with the announcement that the base price of the all-electric Fortwo Electric Drive would be $25,000, making it the cheapest EV in the US. After getting a lot of attention with that number, Smart has been communicating with potential customers to make sure that the launch this spring (no date has yet been set) will be exactly what people want. Smart USA General Manager Tracey Matura is certainly planning for success.
Matura recently told AutoblogGreen that initial response to the price announcement was "all very positive." Around 2,500 people have registered so far, with around 40 percent making a reservation with their local dealer and 60 percent just asking for more information. "We've heard anecdotally that people are very pleased that there will be a cabriolet version as well," she said.
The trick, of course, is figuring out how best to sell and lease a car like the Fortwo ED. While no lease price has yet been announced, Matura did say Smart USA might soon be the only automaker in the US to offer an electric vehicle with a battery lease program. This option is available for Fortwo EDs (and EVs like the Renault Twizy) in Europe. "We haven't ruled it out," she said. "I don't know that it has to be exactly the way they do it in Europe, but there might be some reason to bring something similar to customers here. That's part of the reason I'm asking some of those questions of the people who are interested. I want to understand why they're buying the vehicle, why they're leasing the vehicle. You can't do that by looking at what the Prius did or what Nissan did, because the Smart customer is different.
"Mercedes-Benz has never had an issue introducing a new concept. Smart certainly doesn't," she added. Still, battery leasing isn't just a matter of figuring out the right price. It's full of legal challenges. "In Europe, every country operates different, but if you're in the European Union, they all kind of operate the same," Matura said. "Not so in the United States. So there are just a lot of little things to look at. What I never want to do is launch something that has good intentions but because of some things that are outside of our control it might not be how we envisioned it and might not be a positive for our customer.""Mercedes-Benz has never had an issue introducing a new concept. Smart certainly doesn't."
Smart ED could be first with battery lease in US; electric scooter, bike under discussion, too originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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