At least initially, Smart will build the ForTwo to order on a first-come, first-served basis. The car is set to ship from its assembly plant in France to U.S. dealers in January. Around 50 dealerships will be available from the start — many of them separate showrooms within a Mercedes dealership — and most major cities should have one. Later on, expect 25 or so more dealers to join the effort, Smart says.
As of this writing, Smart has taken about 5,000 fully configured reservations. Ash Zaki, a dealer operator, told me that if all goes according to plan, Smart salespeople won't have to sell any actual cars. Their job will be to entice walk-in customers to order a ForTwo from the factory. Zaki would not say how long it takes from order to delivery, but Smart executives told journalists the first cars to arrive in January were ordered last April.
Zaki conceded that a small number of buyers could default on their reservations, leaving a handful of cars available to walk-in shoppers; if you're particularly shrewd, you might find one. Chances are it will be a Passion coupe or convertible, as Smart says just 3.5 percent of the initial 5,000 orders were for the Pure.
Note: Ash Zaki is chief operating officer of Mercedes-Benz San Francisco.
wow hard to believe that only 175 of the first 5000 are pure. i would have guessed something like a 20/60/20 split.
Remember we're talking the first 5000 reservations. Done by people like us who are enthusiasts who ordered the car sight unseen. We want the better stuff. I for one would never get one without the plastic clear top. And I put on about $1000 of extras on my cabriolet and still the car is below $15000
The only thing I added was power steering which might not have been the best investment of $450, i probably should have gotten it in a package. Im pretty excited about the panorama roof, i was thinking gee it would be nice if it was a sunroof and then i figured out ummmm no place to store the glass in the roof.
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