ZAP's Smart Car tops $27,000 on eBay before delay

ZAP's Smart Car tops $27,000 on eBay before delay

SANTA ROSA, California (December 17, 2004) - ZAP (OTC BB:ZAAP), the California Company working to sell legal U.S. imports of the Smart Car from Europe, announced today that eBay suspended the auction on Wednesday morning December 15 at around 8:30 AM Pacific Standard Time.

"Due to the high profile of this auction, an eBay spokesperson informed us that they would like to see the Americanization of the car completed before allowing it to be sold," said ZAP CEO Steve Schneider.

"Competitors are attempting to sell cars on eBay that do not meet federal regulatory compliance and we want to ensure that every step we take meets the highest standards for the protection of consumers, vendors and shareholders. The conversion of all of our Smart cars in inventory will soon be completed and we fully intend to work with eBay on completing the auction in accordance with their policies," said Schneider.

Within hours of being listed on eBay two weeks ago, bidders pushed the price of the popular European microcar above $27,000. ZAP's listing of the Smart Car pushed eBay's page view counters to over 20,000 over the past ten days. Schneider says that hundreds of people put the Smart Car on their eBay Watch List. Meanwhile, over 8,000 people have visited ZAP's website to register their intent to purchase a Smart car. Schneider says this is a testimonial to the demand for the car in the United States. ZAP has received $2.98 million in purchase orders since it announced the car had received a letter of conformity from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We wanted to get a car on eBay right away with 'no reserve pricing,' or no minimum bid, to evaluate the demand and price point for the car. At $27,000 for a 2003 model year SMARTCAR, it shows us that our proposed pricing structure is currently below the market demand," said Schneider. "There is not a better place than eBay to establish the market value for any new product."

"ZAP is a Company with a pioneer spirit in the auto industry and by definition most of what we do is a first for this industry. Naturally this brings us into areas where there is often very little precedence and it takes time for the conventional industry to understand our vision and ambitions. But we enjoy being ahead of the curve and as someone who has worked in the auto industry for more than 25 years, I can say that I love what I do; now every morning I can't wait to get out of bed and get to work because I feel ZAP has such an exciting opportunity to build a new car company that can help lead the industry towards more fuel-efficient and socially responsible technologies."

ZAP made international news on Wednesday after reporting that it has placed a purchase order with fuel cell maker Anuvu of Sacramento, California. Anuvu believes ZAP's order to be the largest purchase of PEM fuel cell engines in history.

ZAP is not affiliated with, or authorized by, smart gmbh, the manufacturer of SMART automobiles, or the smartUSA division of Mercedes-Benz LLC, the exclusive authorized U.S. importer and distributor of those vehicles. ZAP purchases its vehicles from non-affiliated direct importer Smart-Auto LLC.