All Cars, All the Time

Not so Smartz
Ron Tonkin, a Portland, Oregon auto dealer recently thought he had a bit of a coup on his hands: the rights to sell smart cars at his dealership. Ron even placed an ad in the Sunday paper and took in 33 $500 deposits. However, it now appears that the "distributor" Smartz USA Incorporated doesn't have what it takes to certify the cars for sale. The EPA says that only G&K Automotive Conversion Inc. of Santa Ana, California (the company working with Zap!) is working to certify 2005 smarts. Where does that leave Ron and the supposed $100k that he spent on obtaining those rights? Not looking very smart I'd say. You can read the full story here.