TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

SMARTING

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEITH MORELLI

kmorelli@tampatrib.com

Published: April 1, 2009

TAMPA - The toyish charm of the Smart car is even more charming when you call it an orphan.

Built by Daimler, Smart cars, which get 33 to 40 mpg, made a splash in the U.S. car market about a year ago as gasoline prices topped out at more than $4 a gallon.

One marketing strategy for the Smart car is the ability to order them online. For a $99 refundable reservation deposit, a buyer can custom order one and have it delivered to a dealership near them.

But with gas prices off their highs of 2008, many of the orders are going unclaimed. The unclaimed cars, called orphans, create marketing opportunities.

The Bay area has Smart dealerships in Tampa and Clearwater, selling cars for $12,000 to $19,000.

Miguel Bartoli, manager of the Smart dealership in Clearwater, said his lot has about 20 cars ready to be driven off, about a dozen of which are orphans.

There have been more cancellations of orders, but the cars are still selling, he said.

"It's kind of interesting," he said. "The overall sales number has not dipped. In February, Smart sales were 28 percent higher than February of last year."

With orphans on the lot, Bartoli continually is calling people who are waiting for orders, telling them cars are available.

"We tell them we've got orphan cars," he said. "But they really want the car they ordered."

Ken Kettenbeil, director of communications for Smart USA in Michigan, said the term "orphans" did not originate with the company.

"'Orphan' is the term that has been conjured up by reservation holders," he said. "We are calling them open inventory."

Sales remain strong, he said, and that's because there is more to the teeny car than just gasoline savings. "Gas mileage is only one reason why people are purchasing Smart cars," he said.

"There's the price and there's the green story. The car is 95 percent recyclable," Kettenbeil said.

He said things have slowed but that sales are higher for the first two months of 2009 than for the same period in 2008.

Through February of this year, nearly 3,200 were sold in the United States.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-8870.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT