BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Can a two-seater mini-car barely half the size of a conventional car sell in the United States?

DaimlerChrysler thinks so.

The company plans to bring its Smart car, now sold in Europe, to the United States in early 2008 to sell for “under $15,000.”

DaimlerChrysler’s move is part of a bigger effort by automakers — particularly DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor and General Motors — to get fuel-efficient vehicles in dealer showrooms, said Peter Kitzmiller, president of the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association.

Initially, DaimlerChrysler will focus on New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and later look for sales in Baltimore, said Tony Pordon, senior vice president of United Auto Group.

DaimlerChrysler has tapped United Auto Group, a Michigan-based publicly-traded dealership chain, to line up dealers to sell the Smart car, which is part of DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes Car Group.

“Following the success of the ‘fortwo’ Smart car in Europe with more than 750,000 attracted customers and the increasing demand for affordable and fuel efficient small cars in the U.S.A, we are now bringing this new kind of mobility to U.S. cities,” said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of DaimlerChrysler and head of Mercedes Car Group.

“The time has never been better for this,” he said.

By 2008, Smart car will be redesigned from the current version now on sale in Europe, Pardon said. Smart car uses what DaimlerChrysler calls the Tridion Safety Cell, essentially a steel and aluminum safety cell that surrounds the occupants.

It has passed numerous European crash tests and if necessary will be upgraded to meet U.S. crash standards, Pardon said.

The model sold in Europe has a small three-cylinder engine and gets 60 miles per gallon in combined highway and city driving. But its top speed is 84 mph.

Pardon said that because of its diminutive size, the Smart car will be marketed as a “niche vehicle” and not a family’s sole means of transportation.

“We have to educate the consumer about the virtue of a secondary vehicle,” Pordon said.

Kitzmiller said automakers are scrambling to get fuel-efficient vehicles in their lineup.

“Everybody would like to have some fuel-efficient vehicles,” Kitzmiller said. “But the Smart car is a niche vehicle. It is certainly not going to be a big volume thing.”

Ford recently announced that it will focus on building vehicles that can run on E-85 ethanol, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 person gasoline.

eeldridge@baltimoreexaminer.com