That DaimlerChrysler’s decision to bring Smart to the U.S. has endured more fits and starts than Andy Rooney at a urinal isn’t news. What is
news, however, is word that no decision is immediately forthcoming. A verdict was to have been made by the end of
December, but now it appears there will be at least two more months of hand-wringing and prognosticating before a
decision is announced. Speculation now holds that the end to the will-they/won’t-they conundrum may arrive with
the Geneva show at February’s close.
DCX is mulling over whether to bring the next-generation ForTwo to
America’s streets, a model slated for release in late 2007. Smart’s grand pooh-bah, Ulrich Walker
believes it would be possible to shift 20,000 examples of the funky lilliputian in America’s coastal
cities, which would be equivalent to one-seventh of Smart’s worldwide sales last year.
[Source:
CNN.com]