Daimler AG chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche says his company has more initial orders for Smart cars in the United States than it can build. Mr. Zetsche CEO said they have received "more than 30,000 down payments" from buyers in advance of the car's U.S. introduction in January.

History has away of repeating itself itself.

Canada's Smart Car plan…

The Smart went on sale in Canada in the fall of 2004; the 800 (cdi) Smarts imported to Halifax, Canada disappeared as soon as they hit the chilly shores.

DaimlerChrysler's strategy was to supply 1,000 Smarts per year to Canada. Their strategy, like many details relating to the Smarts journey to America, was wrong at best. Demand for the Smart in Canada was intense, even with a large down payment buyers had a 12-month waiting period.

This was, North America's automotive industries, first clue relating to the public's fascination with these intelligent vehicles.

It is marketing 101 that our marketplaces out sells the Canadian automotive market by ten times. The Canadian division of smart, GmbH has sold over 10,000 Smart Cars to date.

That would equate to 100,000 Smart cars on our highways within the next few years not include fleet, rental and leasing companies sales.

Something else you may find very interesting. The first Smart Canadian cars sold for more money than their American equivalent will 3 years later. The base price of a Smart Cabriolet in Canada was $22,200 USD and came with a 40 hp diesel engine. The American Smart Cabriolet can be purchased here (when available and if prices quoted are correct) for less than $17,000.

Yet, another great indication of the Smart cars salability and the need for suitable inventories!

If additional proof was needed for the folks behind the Smart scene concerning demand and proper supplies of the cars, look no farther than at ZAP. Zap, a publicly traded company approached smart GmbH with a purchase order for 76,500 Smart cars, totaling $1.03 billion.

The order was for approximately one half of smart's total sales for that year! This was in May of 2005.

Zap tempted over 10,000 private buyers to plop down a $1,000 deposit, yes $1,000, to reserve one of Zap's Smarts and also persuaded 50 or so car dealerships from around the U.S. to purchase ($50,000 plus) authorization from Zap so they could sell the "gray market" version of the Smart. Many of the buyers waited over two years and still did not get a car. Zap is suing Daimler as we speak and we will report more about that later.

The few thousand cars sold were priced at $30,000, an additional indication regarding the cars popularity and market appeal.

In May of 2004 gas still cost less than $2.00 a gallon. In the same year many smart sources predicted crude oil to go above $100.00 a barrel by 2008, a very important yardstick regarding the Smart cars future and of things to come.

You would assume all the brainpower that was, and is currently behind the Smarts launch, would be geared up to better meet the public's craving for these Smart cars. 

Smart's Canadian accomplishment regarding sales was definitely not because of their slick marketing campaign or the lack of it, nor will Americas Smart campaign be any different.

Penske/Smart USA made a decision to use non-traditional marketing tactics. Which has made many American buyers uninformed and uneasy as information is limited and some buyers (not many it seems)were put off.