As the small and micro car segment are registering strong growth, there could be no better place to sell the junior two-seater. To capitalize on the fast growing Chinese economy, Daimler recently chose to start selling its junior model, the smart fortwo on the Asian market.
But it will not be the current generation fortwo to be sold in China, as Daimler executives chose to further sell the original smart, initially launched in 1998, in order to reduce production costs and ensure a low price on the tough Chinese car market. Whatever the case, the idea of selling an already successful micro car on a market with overcrowded cities should pay out well for the Germans.
If we pay attention to the statistics which have shown that every 10 months, another Chinese city attains the size of New York, in an environment filled with smoke and big gas guzzlers, a small engined two-seater with low CO2 emissions is seen as a breath of fresh air.
As an additional emotional touch, the car presented at the Auto Show is painted in a special model, resembling a bird's nest, just like the new Olympic stadium recently built at Peking .
Since its introduction, ten years ago, the smart fortwo has been sold in over 870,000 units, being available in 38 countries worldwide. Sales are to begin in mid 2009 and no prices have yet been communicated for the Asian market.
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