The only Smart car dealership in Michigan will close next week.
Aaron Bragman is senior analyst with IHS automotive. He says Smart cars never caught on in the US.
“In this market if you’re going to offer a small car and have it be successful, it has to be small and something. It has to be small and cute or small and efficient or small and well built. The smart car unfortunately was really just, small.”
Bragman says the fuel economy wasn’t what people thought it would be.
“People haven’t been buying the Smart car because frankly it’s really not that great a vehicle for this market. The fuel economy for it is good but not great, you can get comparable fuel economy with vehicles that are larger and about the same price.”
The tiny two-passenger vehicles once sold at the Smart car dealership in Bloomfield Township will be available at the Mercedes-Benz of Bloomfield Hills.
Sales of Smart cars have fallen nearly 80 percent since 2008. Three years ago nearly 25,000 Smart cars were sold. That number fell to almost 6,000 last year.
Emily Fox- Michigan Radio Newsroom
