• by Karl Greenberg , September 10, 2008

Smart USA, the distribution brand for the European Smart car brand, is pitching its cars for parking as much as for driving.

 

 

The car brand is a division of Daimler AG, but marketed in the U.S. as Smart USA by Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Penske Automotive Group. The company has negotiated a deal with New York City parking system Meyers Parking to get steep discounts for owners of the Smart ForTwo car, a super-short two-seater.

Owners of the 106-inch-long vehicle get a 50% discount off daily and monthly posted parking rates at any of six Meyers Parking facilities in New York City.

A spokesperson for Smart USA says that the arrangement is not, at least now, being replicated elsewhere. "Right now, this special parking arrangement is only in New York," he says.

"Meyers actually reached out to us and our customers for this deal. We hope other privately--and publicly--owned facilities move in this direction. It just makes sense that a car half the size of a traditional vehicle should receive a parking discount: The car takes up less space."

He says Smart is promoting the deal only to owners and to dealers in the metropolitan-area market.

The Daimler AG division says it has sold 16,378 Smart ForTwo cars year-to-date through August. The company sold 2,420 of the cars last month. Smart USA says there are some 1,700 in the metropolitan New York market sold through seven dealerships in the tri-state area.

Daimler started selling Smart ForTwo in the U.S. this year. The company has said it aimed for initial yearly sales of about 20,000 of the cars per year. That's under half of what BMW has garnered for its Mini Cooper, against which Smart competes. Mini posted sales of 5,469 autos last month and 36,932 year-to-date.

Smart's ForTwo also vies against other relatively new subcompacts in the U.S. market, like Honda's Fit and Toyota's Yaris.