Smart is not worried about Fiat 500

September 4, 2007May 31, 2012 Omar Rana

Smart, a Mercedes-Benz owned company, says that they are confident that the Smart cars will maintain its sales level in the brand’s biggest market, Italy and Germany. Many analysts think that Smart will lose a huge chunk of the market to the Fiat 500 which has returned after 30 years.

“We are assuming that the market will look at the Fiat 500 and the Smart ForTwo as two different vehicles,” Anders Jensen, Smart”s head of sales and marketing, told Automotive News. “We are a shorter, very distinct, high-value two-seater.”

Smart may be right since the Fiat 500 is priced at €10,500, compared with €9,490 for the base Smart model. However, Fiat says that the Fiat 500 already has 70,000 orders, which debuted in Italy in July 2007.

Jensen said the Smart sold 26,240 units last year in Italy and more than 17,000 units in the first seven months. “Italians love our car, especially the highly equipped versions,” Jensen said.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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