The life of the tiny, economical,60 miles per gallon,and, dare I say, cute Smart Car is more fabulous than that of a character in a soap opera.
The European car has quarreling U.S. distributors, slighted dealers, a lawsuit and adoring fans.
G & K; Automotive Conversion Inc. in Santa Ana has been importing and converting Smart Cars for the U.S. market for a couple of years now. DaimlerChrysler AG’s Smart Cars are popular in Europe, where small is good.
The car also has made its way to Canada, where it’s sold as Smart ForTwo. The mini car is sold in about 37 countries. Now, with high gas prices and green being hip, the Smart Car is in demand here.
Ira Kreindel, owner of Autohaus West at the Irvine Auto Center, said he had three Smart Cars on display recently and people loved them. They see them as the next hip thing, he said.
G & K; Automotive says for now it’s the only facility licensed to import and make the cars road ready for the U.S. Only thing is, G & K; doesn’t sell Smart Cars in California yet.
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Smart Car in Europe: DaimlerChrysler plans to sell here in mass about two years from now |
George Gemayel, owner of G & K;, said California safety and environmental regulations are much more stringent than he anticipated, so it’s been easier to sell them in other states.
G & K; is selling them elsewhere until DaimlerChrysler brings the tiny car to the U.S. in mass in two years or more.
DaimlerChrysler recently announced an exclusive distribution deal with Michigan’s United Auto Group Inc. Some dealers see that as a conflict since United Auto is a dealer group, a large one at that, second only to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based AutoNation Inc.
Neither DaimlerChrylser nor United Auto said how the cars would be sold in the U.S.
In Canada, Mercedes-Benz dealers sell them. G & K; likely will be out of Smart Car conversions once United Auto starts distributing them.
Here’s where it gets tangly.
Santa Rosa-based Zap, a seller of electric vehicles, says it got cut out by DaimlerChrylser and G & K.; Zap Chief Executive Steve Schneider says in 2004 it won the right to exclusively distribute the Smart Car in the U.S. from Smart-Automobile LLC, based in Long Beach.
“We bought the rights,” he said. “G & K; was what we inherited.”
So far, Zap has delivered about 270 Smart Cars to dealers and others in states such as Washington, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Zap teamed with G & K;, which converted the cars. Then Schneider charged that G & K; began distributing the car itself. G & K; said it doesn’t have an exclusive deal with Zap and that it’s just another one of its clients.
United Auto was getting its cars through Zap before it landed the distribution deal with DaimlerChrysler, according to Schneider.
“How they ended up with it, I wasn’t privy to that,” he said.
Zap filed suit a year ago against Smart-Automobile, DaimlerChrysler and G & K.; Schneider calls Smart-Automobile a victim of the other two.
DaimlerChrysler has called the lawsuit “unfounded” in news reports.
Schneider said the dispute has hurt its stock, which now is trading at about a buck. The company distributes its own small electric car, called Xebra (pronounced Zebra).
“It’s similar to the Smart Car but it’s not meant for commuting,” Schneider said. “It’s a second or third car.”
The cars charge by plugging into a regular electric outlet. About 40 cities have ordered cars, he said.
Hybrid Tax Credit
The federal government is giving a tax credit of up to $3,400 for hybrids bought after 2005, according to Irvine-based Autobytel.com. The more “green” the car, the bigger the tax credit.
To claim the credit, hybrid owners have to fill out alternative vehicle credit form 8910. There’s a hitch, according to Autobytel: “When an automaker sells 60,000 hybrids, the credit dips to 50% of the total, starting in the following quarter,then another 50% during the next quarter until the credit gets to zero. So far, only Toyota has hit the 60,000-vehicle threshold. You can also expect that Honda will be at the limit soon, followed by Ford.”
Starbucks Row
Coffee row on 17th Street in Costa Mesa is turning into Starbucks row.
With Starbucks Corp.’s deal to buy 40 coffeehouses,including 21 in Orange County,from Irvine’s Diedrich Coffee Inc., there stands to be six java places within a mile or so.
Presuming Starbucks keeps the Diedrich on 17th Street, there will be four Starbucks, a Peet’s Coffee & Tea and K & #233;an Coffee, started by Diedrich founder Martin Diedrich.
Elsewhere on 17th, Panera recently opened. Surfside Sports, next to Panera, is set to open next month.
