ZAP's Smart Car Tops $27,000 on eBay Before Delay
December 17 2004 - 12:25PM
PR Newswire (US)
ZAP's Smart Car Tops $27,000 on eBay Before Delay SANTA ROSA,
Calif., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ZAP (OTC:ZAPZ) (BULLETIN
BOARD: ZAPZ) , the California Company working to sell legal U.S.
imports of the Smart Car from Europe, announced today that eBay
suspended the auction on Wednesday morning December 15 at around
8:30 AM Pacific Standard Time. "Due to the high profile of this
auction, an eBay spokesperson informed us that they would like to
see the Americanization of the car completed before allowing it to
be sold," said ZAP CEO Steve Schneider. "Competitors are attempting
to sell cars on eBay that do not meet federal regulatory compliance
and we want to ensure that every step we take meets the highest
standards for the protection of consumers, vendors and
shareholders. The conversion of all of our Smart cars in inventory
will soon be completed and we fully intend to work with eBay on
completing the auction in accordance with their policies," said
Schneider. Within hours of being listed on eBay two weeks ago,
bidders pushed the price of the popular European microcar above
$27,000. ZAP's listing of the Smart Car pushed eBay's page view
counters to over 20,000 over the past ten days. Schneider says that
hundreds of people put the Smart Car on their eBay Watch List.
Meanwhile, over 8,000 people have visited ZAP's website to register
their intent to purchase a Smart car. Schneider says this is a
testimonial to the demand for the car in the United States. ZAP has
received $2.98 million in purchase orders since it announced the
car had received a letter of conformity from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. "We wanted to get a car on eBay right away with
'no reserve pricing,' or no minimum bid, to evaluate the demand and
price point for the car. At $27,000 for a 2003 model year SMARTCAR,
it shows us that our proposed pricing structure is currently below
the market demand," said Schneider. "There is not a better place
than eBay to establish the market value for any new product." "ZAP
is a Company with a pioneer spirit in the auto industry and by
definition most of what we do is a first for this industry.
Naturally this brings us into areas where there is often very
little precedence and it takes time for the conventional industry
to understand our vision and ambitions. But we enjoy being ahead of
the curve and as someone who has worked in the auto industry for
more than 25 years, I can say that I love what I do; now every
morning I can't wait to get out of bed and get to work because I
feel ZAP has such an exciting opportunity to build a new car
company that can help lead the industry towards more fuel-efficient
and socially responsible technologies." ZAP made international news
on Wednesday after reporting that it has placed a purchase order
with fuel cell maker Anuvu of Sacramento, California. Anuvu
believes ZAP's order to be the largest purchase of PEM fuel cell
engines in history. About ZAP ZAP has been a leader in clean
transportation technologies since 1994, delivering more than 85,000
vehicles to customers in more than 60 countries. A public company,
ZAP is traded on the Over-the-Counter stock exchange under the
symbol ZAPZ. The company offers a variety of advanced technology
vehicles, including electric cars, bicycles, scooters, motorbikes,
underwater scooters and more. For more information, visit
http://www.zapworld.com/ or call 707-525-8658. ZAP is not
affiliated with, or authorized by, smart gmbh, the manufacturer of
SMART automobiles, or the smartUSA division of Mercedes-Benz LLC,
the exclusive authorized U.S. importer and distributor of those
vehicles. ZAP purchases its vehicles from non-affiliated direct
importer Smart-Auto LLC. Forward-looking statements in this release
are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned
that such forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, including, without limitation, continued acceptance
of the Company's products, increased levels of competition for the
Company, new products and technological changes, the Company's
dependence upon third-party suppliers, intellectual property
rights, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's
periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DATASOURCE: ZAP CONTACT: media, Alex Campbell, +1-707-525-8658,
ext. 241, or , or investors, Steven Kim, +1-707-525-8658, ext. 298,
or, , both of ZAP Web site: http://www.zapworld.com/
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