DaimlerChrysler AG’s micro car brand Smart is entering the Mexican car market, its first foray on the American continent, according to Dow Jones.
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Smart will sell its trademark city coupe – a mini two-seater designed for crowded urban streets – and its sporty roadster while a new four-seater will be available in summer 2004, the report said.
“With a huge multi-million metropolis like Mexico City, (the country) is an attractive market for compact, agile and environmentally compatible small cars from Smart,” said Philipp Schiemer, Smart’s vice president for marketing and sales, in a statement cited by Dow Jones.
“We are also gaining our first experience which we can use to prepare for entering the US market,” he reportedly added.
Smart plans to enter the US with a modified version of its four-seater in 2006, Dow Jones noted, adding that the brand will sell cars at seven locations attached to existing Mercedes dealers in Mexico.
Four of the sales points are in Mexico City with the others in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Veracruz and the company expects to sell about 400 cars in Mexico in 2004, a company spokesman told the news agency.
In 2002, Smart sold more than 122,000 cars worldwide, the report said.
