Daimler Smart Fortwo Car in the US

However, the price of the car, which ranged between US$ 11,590 and US$ 16,590, came in for criticism. Some analysts were of the view that at the price of a Smart Fortwo, consumers would prefer to buy other cars with more space. They also pointed out safety issues and lack of power as drawbacks of the car.

Analysts also felt that with more and more small cars being introduced in the US market, Smart cars would face tough competition. They were also apprehensive whether the Smart car would be able to generate growth in sales in the near future as the global financial crisis had hit the US automobile industry hard.

The history of the Smart dates back to the late 1980s. The idea to build a small car was conceived by Nicolas G. Hayek (Hayek), of Swatch Group.³ The car was initially called 'Swatchmobile.'

Hayek was looking for an automobile company to produce this car. He initially talked to General Motors Corporation (GM),⁴ but the company rejected the proposal because it was skeptical about the profitability of the project.

Volkswagen⁵ showed interest and in 1991, both the companies started a joint venture to research and develop the small car...