Imagine the look on DaimlerChrysler chief J rgen Schrempp's face as he looked over a recent purchase order from US-based Zap for 76,000 Smart Fortwos, at a price of over $1 billion. "Das ist ein joke, yes?," he probably said, then went back to his coffee and Gebr der Heinemann pastries, wondering how some wierd little electric-bike company from California could do what mighty DCX could not — prepare the tiny Smart for the US market. [Updates!]
According to The Car Connection, DaimlerChrysler sent engineers to the company, earlier in 2005, to see how Zap could possibly manage that feat. It's not clear what they found out, though some say DCX is less than pleased that Zap will have the lion's share of control of the brand in a market as large as the US's. Still, Zap has yet to receieve confirmation that Smart GmbH will fulfill the purchase order — which would effectively vaporize its business plan. On the flip side, we still wonder whether Zap can scale up its conversion facilities to handle converting tens of thousands of cars for the US market. Lots of questions for such a small car. [Update: Zap reported yesterday that a number of Smart distributors and exporters with large inventories of the vehicles have have offered to supply them to Zap. Now, Forbes is reporting DCX is "not aware" of any such purchase order. Whoa, does the plot thicken or what?.]
Can ZAP Move $1 Billion in smarts? [The Car Connection]
Related:
First Zap Smart Car Delivered to Reno Couple [internal]