Smart cars are awfully cute, but that's not the end of the uber-compact vehicles' charms - great gas mileage, energy effiency, sure - but they're also bringing up to 35 new jobs to the metro area and revitalizing a once-unused building.
SmartUSA hopes to move its employees into the building on Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Hills before the holidays, says Ken Kettenbeil, director of communications, and plans to open in early January.
The site will be Michigan's only Smart car dealership, and the company's corporate offices.
The company's 15 corporate employees are currently working out of trailers behind the site, Kettenbeil says. SmartUSA is still hiring some of the roughly 20 dealership staff members.
So far, the Smart buzz is big, Kettenbeil says.
"We announced the reservation program in March, and about 30,000 people across the country have placed reservations," he says. "We have 100,000 people that have requested to receive our e-newsletter once a month, and 3.5 million unique visitors to Web site."
Kettenbeil believes that volatile gas prices, more often up than down, have made the fuel-efficient Smart car - reported to get 40 miles per gallon in the city and 45 miles per gallon on the highway - appealing to the American consumer.
"It answers a lot of problems people face in large urban cities," he says. "The car is able to get around pretty good in the city, and parking tends to be a little easier. Also, Americans love their cars, and this is a fun car. It's unique, attention grabbing."
Source: Ken Kettenbeil, SmartUSA
Writer: Nancy Kaffer
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