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February 8, 2008

MARK BENNETT: Will smart cars sell in Indiana?

By Mark Bennett

INDIANAPOLIS — Looking at a smart car from the outside, you immediately begin a mental list of people who wouldn’t touch an 8.8-foot vehicle with a 10-foot pole.

Two hefty farmers on their way to an Amish lunch buffet.

But, no. Even after a double order of noodles and biscuits, they’d still comfortably fit inside these European micro-mini-cars made by Daimler, a Mercedes-Benz company. Of course, they’d be sharing a ride in a car officially named “smart fortwo passion coupe” or “smart fortwo passion cabriolet,” so there would be no room for insecurity.

Still, at 61 inches wide and 60 inches tall, a smart fortwo — like its cars, smart USA prefers its letters small — can hold two humans of decent size and, according to an Indianapolis dealer, two golf bags or a few groceries (but not a week’s worth) in back. Because the driver and passenger sit in seats perched 8 inches higher than conventional sub-compacts, and because they’re surrounded by a panorama of glass (in the windshield, windows and roof), occupants could forget they’re aboard the tiniest automobile marketed in the United States.

“I’m like everyone else,” said Linda Pettenaro, dealer principal at smart center Indianapolis, the only outlet for the vehicles in Indiana. “When you see it, it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s a shoebox.’ But once you’re in it, it’s totally different.”

In an age of $3-a-gallon gas and conservatives warming up to the battle against global warming, the smart fortwo is an extreme example of living light. Smart cars have been a fixture since 1998 on roads throughout Europe, where narrow streets, chaotic traffic, haphazard parking and even higher gasoline prices are the norm. In fact, 850,000 smart cars have been sold in 36 foreign countries in the past 10 years, according to Ken Kettenbeil, director of communications for smart USA.

But the miniature autos’ first appearance in the U.S. came just last month. The initial shipment of 30,000 smart cars were all pre-sold, with customers reserving them online for a $99 fee, which is refundable upon purchase. There will be 74 dealerships across the country by year’s end, including 68 by Valentine’s Day. The Indianapolis outlet opened Jan. 25, has distributed 22 pre-sold smart cars, and has a one-year waiting list of 70 prospective buyers, Pettenaro explained.

Could Hoosiers trade in their Durangos en masse for a car that could fit in the bed of a Ford pickup? That’s doubtful, no matter how high gas prices go. Still, the smart USA people think their autos aren’t a novelty. Pettenaro predicted that competitors will copy the idea and release their own micro-mini-cars. Kettenbeil thinks the rising fuel costs, lagging SUV sales and the nation’s heightened eco-consciousness create a perfect storm for smart fortwo.

“All three of those factors rising among Americans tell us that they are leaning toward more fuel-efficient, ecologically effective vehicles,” Kettenbeil said in a telephone interview last week.

In 2006, SUV sales fell 8 percent for Chrysler, nearly 10 percent for GM and 14 percent for Ford, according to Forbes magazine.

Smart USA expects numbers to continue to favor small vehicle sales.

“We fully expect this to be a trend, rather than a fad,” he said.

There are obstacles, though. Smart fortwos average an impressive 33 miles per gallon in the city and 41 on the highways, but the company recommends using premium gas, which typically costs 20 cents a gallon more than regular grade unleaded. And that is gas — old-fashioned, fossil fuel gasoline. Smart cars aren’t flex-fuel vehicles capable of burning gas or E85, nor are they gas-electric hybrids. So a smart car’s ecological benefits are comparatively modest.

Mainstream Americans may expect to be wowed by 60-mpg ratings, if they’re going to buy such a tiny car, even at relatively low prices (ranging from $11,600 to around $17,000).

Smart fortwos could find a niche in some segments of the U.S. population, said Jim Oakley, an assistant professor of marketing at Purdue University, where he studies auto industry trends. A large factory, for example, might purchase a fleet of smart cars for use around a large, industrial campus, he said. Retirees may buy them for cheap, errand-running jaunts. Others — single professionals, college students, young couples — may turn to smart cars to make a green statement or attract some stares.

Otherwise, fortwos may be one hard sell in the U.S. market, Oakley said, where “there’s a general mentality that bigger is better.” The first hybrid car introduced in the U.S. — the Honda Insight — flopped in 1999, he said, because of its smallness and in spite of its nearly 70-mpg rating. Later, Toyota found hybrid success with a larger, better equipped Prius.

Americans may hesitate at smart cars also, Oakley said.

“I think, in general, it is a longshot,” he said by phone from West Lafayette. “I think there will be pockets of demand for this.”

In urban settings, smart fortwos could be popular. But Oakley is skeptical about their adaptability on interstates and freeways alongside semis.

“American consumers, with big, open roads, want to feel safer, feel more powerful, so they gravitate toward larger vehicles,” Oakley said.

The smart fortwo has shown appeal in wide open spaces in Canada, Kettenbeil contends, and emphasized its Mercedes safety engineering. When smart cars were introduced in the Great White North in 2004, initial sales were projected at 3,000, Kettenbeil said. Instead, 10,000 were sold, and half of those buyers came from Canada’s prairie provinces.

On a test drive around Indianapolis’ northeast side last week, I experienced the pros and cons of micro-driving. Until that moment, my only first-hand experience with smart cars came in 2006 when my wife and I visited Rome, where Italians drove them at hair-raising speeds through crooked streets. I also saw Inspector Clouseau (a.k.a. Steve Martin) motoring a smart car in the 2006 remake of “Pink Panther.”

I had better luck behind the wheel, though, than Clouseau.

The car rode and handled smartly, pardon the pun. It’s transmission — a blend of a manual and an automatic — isn’t hard to learn, but would test old-school drivers. It shifts through five speeds automatically, but requires a light release of the gas pedal through each exchange. Or it can be shifted manually by using finger-touch paddles on each side of the wheel.

It’s easy to forget the car’s size, until you look over your shoulder and realize the back window is inches away. In the rear, beneath a small storage deck is the 3-cylinder, 99-cubic centimeter, 70-horsepower engine (made by Mitsubishi), which was strong enough to keep up with the general Indy traffic.

But the size-matters limitations popped up as I approached a series of three fat speed bumps on a side road. Because the bumps were almost half as long as the smart fortwo’s 73-inch wheel base, I slowed almost to a stop as a precaution.

Cars driving past, though, slowed down to look at the smart fortwo. That wow-factor seems to be one selling point that isn’t in question.



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

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