Lower Gas Prices Making Orphans Out Of Some Smart Cars

The toy-ish Smart car is even cuter when you call it an orphan.

Built by Daimler, which also makes Mercedes-Benz, the toaster-sized Smart cars, which get between 33 mpg and 40 mpg, made a splash in the U.S. car market just over a year ago, as gasoline prices topped out at over $4 a gallon.

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

But with gas prices dropping, manyof the orders are going unclaimed. Those cars sitting on the lots unclaimed, are called orphans, making more marketing opportunities.

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

Miguel Bartoli, the 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.

While he said there have been increasing numbers of cancellations of reservations, cars are still selling.

"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."

He said there are still hundreds of reservation holders waiting for their custom cars to arrive. With orphans on the lot, Bartoli is always on the phone calling those people on the waiting list telling them cars are available.

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

He said plummeting gasoline prices did have an impact on the number of walk-in customers, but didn't affect the online ordering buyers.

"When gas was $4 a gallon," Bartoli said, "people were walking in to look at the car, just to gather information."

Just who drives a Smart car? Bartoli said there's no specific type.

"Who do we market as our demographic Smart customers? We have 16-year-old girls driving their first car and 87-year-old men driving their last car. We have rich folks and people who can't afford regular cars," he said.

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 are still strong, he said, and that's because there's 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."

In large cities, they are easier to park and to get around, he said. "And for some, they are just fun to drive."

He admits that things have slowed thanks to the economy, and that many who have ordered have not picked them up yet. Still, sales are higher over the first two months of this year over last year.

Daimler chose the United States for the 37th country to sell Smart cars, which has been on the market elsewhere in since 1998.

According to the Smart car's Web site, more than 24,000 Smart cars -- which are 4 feet shorter than a Mini Cooper -- were sold in 2008 worldwide.

Through February of this year, nearly 3,200 were sold in the United States, almost double the figure from last year's first two months. The growing success has resulted in 70 Smart dealerships opening in 35 states, including Florida.