Harteis News & Views : Making Smart Cars Popular is U.S.

 The diminutive smart cars that are popular in Europe are set to arrive in American showrooms this week, but prospective buyers may be in for a long wait.

The American rollout will be slow because the company importing the cars, Santa Rosa, California, ZAP, must purchase the vehicles second-hand and uses a third party to modify the vehicles to meet U.S. safety and emissions standards, according to the company. ZAP has access to "tens of thousands" of vehicles from European suppliers, according to ZAP CEO Steve Schneider.

Despite the additional middleman costs and a dollar that is falling against the euro, Schneider believes ZAP can still sell the vehicles at a profit. The company has not announced pricing for the vehicles, which are smaller and lighter than economy cars.

To read the complete business article from our news partner…

 http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,68014,00.html?tw=rss.CAR

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Sources include  :  Wired News

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