Who bought the first Smart Car in the US?

With the Smart Car due to launch in the US here in 2008, aren't you the least bit curious who took delivery of the first one? Well the answer may surprise you. The Smart Car is not new to the United States at all.

Smart has been seesawing whether to enter the US market since the release of the fortwo coupe in 1998. Initially they "test-marketed" the car in the US and found publicly that US consumers were more interested in SUVs. Then, they established a Smart USA operation and nearly completed the full engineering of an SUV Smart formore that they announced would be unveiled in 2004 at the Detroit Auto Show.

Well, a week beforehand, news leaked to media that the SUV was cancelled amid financial problems with Smart. It was later found that Smart was losing billions of dollars. Factories were closed and thousands of workers were laid off; there were even rumors that the 60 MPG Smart Car, one of the most popular fuel-efficient cars in history, was to be cancelled completely. Amid this, Smart shut down their USA operation.

ZAP saw this story unfolding and, seeing an opportunity, endeavored through its partners and registered importers to start buying Smart Cars from auto distributors and begin selling them in the United States, independently of the manufacture.

ZAP went to great expense and spent almost two years working to make it possible and on May 18, 2005, a Nevada couple, Phil and Leigh Aurbach, took delivery of the first Smart Car Americanized by ZAP from a dealer in Reno, Nevada. Here is the photo from the historic day.

I wish I could write that this story had a happy ending, but ZAP had to stop selling the Smart Car after delivering almost 400 units. ZAP made the decision to cease its own smart car operations for reasons beyond its control. The matter is now the subject of a lawsuit ZAP has filed against the DaimlerChrysler, Smart, and some of its officials for interfering with its business. (See recent news for more details.)

ZAP has shifted its focus back to electric transportation for now. Today ZAP is selling some of the most cost effective electric cars and trucks available in the world and has plans to introduce new vehicles by next year.

It appears that Smart has finally made the Smart choice by entering the US market and while we could say, "What kept you so long?" I think we are more content with knowing that US car-buyers now have access to greener car technologies than ever before, which has always been and continues to be the underlying mission of ZAP.