The SMART car is an interesting phenemon. They're kind of the opposite of what Detroit thinks America wants, for it's teensy tiny, gets tremendous gasoline mileage, etc. Yet it sells well, and when it was introduced in Canada last year they sold out all the ones imported without doing any marketing. Can you say "popular"?
I've sat in one, and it's very roomy inside, despite being extremely small. Also I understand the designers went to great extreme to make it crash-safe since the small size obviously will raise safety concerns.
The most exciting thing about the car, from my perspective, is that it gets 60 miles per gallon. In todays environment of ever-increasing oil prices, that kind of fuel efficiency is to be greatly desired. The last time the U.S.A. had a gasoline "crisis", in the 1970's, the average fuel economy went up. For a few years. Until "we" forgot (I didn't forget).
DaimlerChrysler to Scale Back Mini-Car Unit (By MARK LANDLER - Published: April 2, 2005 - NY Times)
So, can someone explain to me the logic to this? They have a popular car, but they want to scale back production? They see a great success in Canada, they want to start shipping to the U.S.A. and they want to scale back.
Someone help me please. How does this make sense?
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