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Smart US decision postponed to next year (2006)

How many times are they going to do this? Another delay in the decision making process. This news is courtesy of Just Auto a subscription based news service, so I don't have the full details. More info should be available later on as other news services pick up this story.

Okay, here's the update from Automotive News article:

DaimlerChrysler has pushed back into 2006 a decision on whether to launch its Smart minicar brand in the United States. "The decision will be made only next year," Smart spokesman Heinz Gottwick said late on Monday, Dec. 19, noting that a review of its sales and marketing network could last a few more weeks. A decision that was originally set to be made the end of 2005 may now emerge at the Geneva car show in late February. DaimlerChrysler has been considering for months whether to expand the loss-making Smart brand to the U.S. market. It has held out the prospect that the successor to the two-seat ForTwo model planned for the second half of 2007 may get a U.S. launch. Smart chief Ulrich Walker has said it should be possible to sell 20,000 units a year in cities on the U.S. coasts. Smart sold 140,000 vehicles around the world last year. Sales in the first 11 months of 2005 rose 5.5 percent to 132,900 units. The Smart business, which had an operating loss of 600 million euros last year, or $715.8 million at current exchange rates, has slashed staff and costs, narrowed its product lineup to the ForTwo and four-seat ForFour, and struck closer ties with the Mercedes-Benz brand to boost earnings. Mercedes division chief Dieter Zetsche, who will become group chief executive at the turn of the year, has publicly backed Smart's future in the group and has said he wanted to give management there the chance to carry out a business plan that aims to have the brand break even by 2007