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Originally Posted by omaha.com
Although Smart USA hasn't made an official announcement, the Smart car signs are expected to go up today at Omaha's Performance Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership near 126th and Harrison Streets.
The highly anticipated Smart car is promised soon at Omaha's Performance Chrysler Jeep DodgeTal Anderson, chairman of the Performance Auto Group, said his company is among the "first wave" of about 41 dealers in the United States to sell the pint-size Daimler-made cars. Ultimately, there will be 75 U.S. dealers.
"We sure anticipate being announced as a dealer," said Anderson, who has been in the auto business for 50 years.
Although Ken Kettenbeil, director of communications for Smart USA, said the company will not commingle the vehicles with any brand except Mercedes, Anderson said his dealership initially will have Smart share space with Chrysler.
But Smart's share of the space will be in a separate wing, he said.
... Anderson said when he checked a few months ago, there were more than 250 orders from this area.
"Of course, there's been a lot of publicity since that time, so I expect we have more by now. They (Smart USA) won't give us the latest list until they announce the dealers," Anderson said.
Anderson said his dealership will be operating by Jan. 15, at the latest, and that his daughter, Angie Quinn, will be in charge. Tyrone Williams, general manager of Performance Chrysler, also will be general manager of the Smart car operation, Quinn said.
...A wrinkle in all the excitement is the availability of the cars.
Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Daimler, said orders for the car have reached a point "far beyond the production capacity we have for next year."
Both Smart USA and Anderson said that some of the more than 30,000 people who have put in orders on the Internet may back out.
"We'll do our best to move people up the line," he said.
And despite the apparent demand, Performance will not raise prices above list, Anderson said.
"We believe that people are going to find the car so impressive that it's going to be worth the wait."
In the first year, Performance will be "lucky to get 200 cars," which is the volume the dealership has been allocated the first year, he said.
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