Daimler to sell Smart car in China next year

For Chinese car buyers interested in a Smart ForTwo, the real deal will finally be available. Daimler AG's head of sales and marketing, Klaus Maier, said yesterday that the city car will be available in China starting in the middle of 2009. For a while now, domestic manufacturers have been selling vehicles that look suspiciously similar to the ForTwo (some with a battery-powered drivetrain, see here and here). Daimler has apparently realized there's a market for the city car and Maier told journalists yesterday that, "I am happy to announce that Smart, the original micro compact car, is coming to China next year. If you've spent any time on the streets of Beijing, you know that it is the perfect place for creative solutions to urban mobility." Or uncreative ones, if you're not too concerned about intellectual property.

[Source: Reuters]