Fear not, the Smart Car has reached Stateside.

The small, fuel-efficient and very practical car made by Mercedes Benz is about to make its US debut this 2008, and its site will be constructed at Orlando, making Central Florida the first Smart Car dealer. As of now, there is progress as the site will soon be erected near the Mall at Millenia on Central Florida.

The Orlando dealership will not stand alone however. It will be joined by another name that is familiar in the automotive industry, the Infiniti dealership. Both dealers were scheduled to open by May, while James Bond’s Aston Martin brand will be opening a showroom when fall comes. According to bizjournals.com, “the $14 million project is being developed by TT of I-4 Inc., an entity formed by Terry Taylor, owner of the behemoth Central Florida Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership in south Orlando, and his business partners.” All of a sudden, Central Florida seemed to be the hub of America’s automotive industry.

Together with Smart Watch Co., Mercedes Benz was able to develop the Smart Car which gained popularity in Europe. The cars are now being manufactured in a division of Mercedes Benz, and it will be distributed in America by Bloomfield Hills, a Michigan-based Smart USA Distributor, an arm of Penske Automotive Group.

An official announcement will be made next week by Smart USA, to spread the word about their 74-store dealer network across the States, spokesman Ken Kettenbeil said in an interview. One will be located in Orlando, while eight will be in Florida.

Source: bizjournals.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Smart Car. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.