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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Universal City Dealership Vies For Rights to Sell Smart Cars to L.A.

Super-compact Smart cars will soon be making their way from Europe’s metro areas to the San Fernando Valley. The New Century Automotive Group, which owns seven car dealerships in Southern California two in Universal City is a candidate to sell the two-seater compact Smart Fortwo car when it arrives in the United States next year. “They felt the timing was right for the U.S. with our gas prices and our traffic,” said Ken Crossman of MINI of Universal City, which is owned by New Century. “They’re really popular in the metro areas in Europe, like Paris and Rome, where the traffic is insane.” The Smart Fortwo is manufactured by the Mercedes Car Group and is a member of the DaimlerChrysler family of cars, according to Laurie Golden, a partner with Jacob’s Well public relations and advertising firm in Woodland Hills. Smart USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of UnitedAuto Group, will be the exclusive distributor for the Smart car in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. According to Crossman, Smart USA solicited dealers to sell the cars in the states. Dealers that were interested in selling the vehicles put together a proposal earlier this year explaining why they would be a good match to sell the car. Many of those dealer candidates are Mercedes Benz dealerships and will sell the Smart car out of their existing dealerships. For his part, Crossman put together a proposal in February that illustrated the proximity of the movie industry to New Century’s proposed Smart dealership. The proposed dealership would be on the same block as New Century’s existing Universal City dealerships – Century West BMW and MINI of Universal City. The dealership is waiting for its proposal to be approved. If it is, Smart of Universal City will be the only dealer in Los Angeles to carry the tiny cars. Three other dealerships are slated to open in other parts of Southern California, Crossman said. About 50 dealers are expected to initially sell the cars throughout the U.S. The Smart dealership would be run out of an existing 3,000-square-foot facility that Century West owns and will remodel. New Century, Crossman said, felt the vehicles would be popular in the region because of the heavy traffic, rising gas prices and lack of parking. “Nobody’s offering any relief,” he said. The Universal City dealership felt that the cars would be attractive to people in the nearby media, entertainment and arts districts. “They have a better appreciation of design and how things look,” he said. Being located across the street from the MINI Cooper dealership would be an added bonus, he said. “I think they’re gonna compliment each other,” he said. The dealership is currently accepting orders for the 2008 vehicle. Despite their tiny size, drivers can’t seem to order them fast enough. To date, approximately 12,000 orders for the car have already been taken throughout the United States, Crossman said. “We’ll probably be sold out in the first quarter,” said Golden, adding that production will commence later this year. Manufacturers of the Smart car laud its gas mileage and safety features as the reasons for its popularity. The car is designed to get more than 40 miles per gallon in normal driving conditions. Although the Fortwo will be the smallest and shortest vehicle in the U.S., measuring only 104 inches in length, “We think the car is safe for the size of the vehicle,” Crossman said. According to Golden, the car has a safety management system and tridion safety cell. The cell is made from three layers of steel that are reinforced at strategic points to allow for the absorption of impact and redistribution of crash energy. In addition, both the car doors are reinforced with steel bars. The cars are also equipped with four airbags, two in the front and two on the side. The cars also come with an electronic stability program and ABS brakes. Although the car has not yet been given a safety rating in the U.S., Smart car officials said the Fortwo is designed to achieve a four-star safety rating. According to ConsumerReports.org, “In a similar test to that of the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), the European consortium of motoring clubs (Euro NCAP) awarded it three out of five stars.” Mark Rikess, chief executive officer of the Burbank automotive consulting firm the Rikess Group, said that if the Fortwo car is involved in a “moderate” crash, it “will hold up comparably to a compact car.” “For what it is,” he said, “it’s awfully safe. I think they got it as safe as they can get it.” However, Rikess added, “If someone is hit by an SUV in a normal-sized car, they’re in trouble. But a person in a Smart car is probably in more trouble.” The Fortwo is ideal for someone commuting but not for someone who is looking for a car to drive great distances or who drives a lot of highway miles, Rikess said. “There’s a very particular market for this vehicle,” he said. Safety aside, not all reviews on the car’s performance have been favorable. In December, ConsumerReports.org reported that after testing one of the cars it purchased in Canada, “We’ve concluded it’s not worth the hype.” “The Smart has two strong points: its cute looks and ease of parking. Otherwise, it’s slow, it’s noisy, it handles reluctantly and it has the worst transmission shift quality we’ve ever experienced. Fuel economy, while good, is no better than that of the Toyota Prius a larger, quicker, cleaner-emissions car.”

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