With the price of oil hitting triple digits for the first time just this week, Smart's ForTwo offers more than novelty. And yet surprisingly, fuel economy has not been a major selling point for the car. This isn't the only way the ForTwo is defying expectations.
It gets 33/41 mpg, according to the EPA's 2008 standards. "People expect it to get 300 miles to the gallon," says Kristin Gracey, sales manager for SmartCar in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Knoxville? With relatively little traffic and abundant parking, why would the car have much appeal in this tiny city on the edge of the Smokies? "People like to leave their SUVs at home and use the ForTwo to run errands around town," she explains. Smart USA located its 74 U.S. dealerships according to where pre-sales orders were coming from over the Internet. This left many in the company shaking their heads. While demand for the car is certainly strong in Phildadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Portland and other congested blue-state cities, the dealership in LaVista, Nebraska, has some 250 cars on order. "It takes about a year to get your car," explains Andrea Falter, sales manager of the dealership located just outside of Omaha.
No, it's not the price that's selling these cars. Read after the jump.
The ForTwo has many practical attributes, but it's not a car you'd expect to see sailing across the wide open spaces of the American prairie. After all, it was a car that won popularity in Barcelona, Paris and Rome. Microcars have never gained traction with Americans. Yet the ForTwo's pre-sale orders were high in Tulsa; Louisville; Albuquerque; Birmingham; Lindon, Utah; Englewood, Colorado; and other red-state cities.
What's the appeal, if not gas mileage? Jessica Gamarra, a marketing executive at Smart USA's headquarters, says that it's overwhelmingly bought as a second car (or a 17th car, as Kristin Gracey wryly puts it). "People are buying it for their second homes," says Gamarra. "They haul it behind their RVs. They're buying it for their teenage drivers," she says. When asked to rate four key selling points -- gas mileage, price, practicality (parking, maneuvering in traffic) and novelty -- every dealer we spoke with put novelty as its number one feature.
Is this going to be a problem going forward? After all, the shine eventually wears dull. "It's absolutely going to cause trouble," says Aaron Bragman, an auto-industry analyst with Global Insight. "The appeal of the SmartCar is the same as it was for the Mini. It's the Mini for those who can't afford a Mini." Yet the price on the ForTwo ranges between $11,590 and $16,590, This puts it in striking distance of a Toyota Yaris or a Honda Fit, which offer backseats and more power. "Mini faced the same thing [selling on novelty]," says Bragman. "But they diversified their product. Smart is going to have to do the same thing. It's going to be key for their success in the U.S."
Meanwhile, novelty is working. Andrea Falter had just sold another ForTwo the day before we called. "It was to a young gentleman," she says. "He likes to have new toys. He likes to be ahead of everyone else."
