Daimler considers selling Smarts in U.S.

DaimlerChrysler is leaning toward launching its Smart minicar in the United States, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

"At the moment, the tendency is clearly positive," Zetsche said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

A final decision on whether to sell the car in the United States will be taken this month, he said.

Zetsche repeated that he expected the loss-making Smart unit to turn a profit in 2007.

Smart is focusing on building only a two-seat model after deciding to scrap its slow-selling four-seater earlier this year.

The unit, which has been restructuring to stem losses, had already dropped its roadster model a year ago and also abandoned plans for a Smart offroader.