The tiny Smart car, fighting sluggish US sales, is getting a jolt under the seats.

That is where the lithium-ion battery pack sits in the new electric version of the two-seater, located where its 8.7-gallon gas tank used to be.

The Smart ForTwo Electric Drive made its local debut yesterday at the Herb Chambers dealership in Somerville. Taking a cue from BMW, which leased its prototype electric Mini Cooper last year to 500 American drivers, Smart is bringing 250 test models of its electric car to the United States. They will be available through special lease programs, but most will be sold to corporate fleets.

Smart plans to build 1,500 before official production begins in 2012. The four-year lease is expected to cost $31,500, about $10,000 more than the most expensive gasoline-powered Smart, according to Derek Kaufman, one of the brand’s vice presidents.

“What we’re really trying to promote here is the electrification of transportation,’’ he said.

The Smart car, made by Daimler AG, was introduced in Europe in 1998, and brought to the US market two years ago, when gas prices hovered around $4. Nearly 25,000 of the tiny two-seaters were sold that year.

Now that fuel prices have ebbed, Smart has struggled to market a microcar with scant luggage space and average fuel economy. Smart’s US sales through June are down 61 percent over last year, with only 577 sold last month. Herb Chambers, who owns two Smart dealerships, says that in a “good month,’’ he sells up to 20 of the cars.

“If fuel were $4 a gallon, there wouldn’t be a car sitting here,’’ Chambers said in his Somerville showroom.

Other than green wheels, decals, and two circular gauges atop the dashboard to show battery life and available power, there’s no apparent difference from the regular Smart. Power cables stow inside the tailgate, and the motor and other electrical components hide under the cargo floor.

Despite adding roughly 300 pounds worth of batteries engineered by California-based Tesla Motors, the 8-foot, 10-inch ForTwo barely weighs a ton. Maximum speed tops out at 60 miles per hour and its range is 84 miles. A complete charge from a standard outlet takes about eight hours.

Later this year, a wave of electric cars is expected to go on sale.

Buyers of electric cars can qualify for up to $7,500 in federal tax credits.

Clifford Atiyeh can be reached at catiyeh@globe.com.

PORSCHE PARTY—Steve Sabatini (left), Regional Manager of Porsche North America and Herb Chambers perform the ceremonial ribbon cutting ceremony at Herb Chambers’ new Porsche dealership in Burlington.

The dealership, Porsche of Burlington, held a sizzling summer party for customers, friends, and industry leaders to officially celebrate the opening of the dealership.

Located next to Chambers’ Audi Burlington at 62 Cambridge Street, the state-of-the-art luxury dealership is Chambers’ second Porsche dealership, the other being Herb Chambers Porsche of Boston. The party featured a special music performance by the band Crusin’ and catering by Davio’s Restaurant of Boston.

Also in attendance were dealership General Manager George Chambers and Herb Chambers Companies Vice President Jim Xaros. Herb Chambers is the largest automobile dealership group in New England with 46 dealership locations.

Herb Chambers 4th of July Sales Event

CLICK HERE for a Herb Chambers Dealer Near YOU!

Just a few months ago; I mentioned that we at Herb Chambers, were approaching the New Year at “full-speed” proceeding with several exciting new construction and facilities renovation projects. Well, here we are in early 2009 and we are proud to announce two new facilities up and running!

They are Herb Chambers Porsche of Burlington & Audi Burlington — a brand new 40,000 square foot dealership built to house some of the world’s finest luxury sports and performance cars and Herb Chambers Ford Truck center, an all new 70,000 sq. ft. truck service and collision center with a state of the art body shop.

These two facilities are simply amazing; one designed to showcase some of the world’s most exciting and advanced automobiles; while the other is designed to provide the best possible care and repair of both cars and trucks that have been involved in collisions.

If you’re a sports car or luxury vehicle aficionado there’s no better place to experience and test drive some of the world’s most practical yet spirited sports & luxury automobiles, than Herb Chambers Porsche of Burlington & Audi Burlington. Our goal here was clean elegance and to showcase high performance machines like nowhere else. The architectural “mirror glass” façade and sleek show room interior complete a perfect sun-lit showcase to introduce the new automotive sports/luxury masterpieces of our age. These vehicles though exotic– are really well mannered everyday drivers in every sense of the word. If you can imagine yourself (even for a moment) driving one these rolling sculptures; you owe it to yourself to visit our newest showrooms in Burlington. If you currently own a Porsche or Audi, we invite you to visit our new facility and experience service of the highest level. Where you purchased your vehicle makes no difference, we would like to take care of it for you. You will be impressed!

If your car or truck has had an unfortunate “tangle” with another vehicle or just needs some sprucing up; we’d like to draw your attention to Herb Chambers newest Ford Truck center and complete Collision Facility servicing all makes & models of cars, trucks & SUV’s.

We went all out here as this enormous facility has absolutely everything needed to make your damaged vehicle as good as new including the newest state of the art paint booth facilities to make your vehicle really shine! In addition, it’s really cavernous (70,000 sq. ft!!!) … with more space to simultaneously repair more vehicles indoor than anyone else!!! The latest in clean air equipment is used to provide the best environment for our craftsmen. This is all in addition to our other 3 world class body shops & collision centers in Danvers, Providence AND Ashland.

True to our word, these facilities are already humming with activity and serving Herb Chambers customers from all over New England. Stay tuned and we will keep you posted on several other projects nearing completion…talk with you again soon!

Sincerely,
Herb

Please visit these other Herb Chambers Related Websites!

Herb Chambers Videos – CLICK HERE.

Herb Chambers Hybrids – CLICK HERE.

Herb Chambers Reviews – CLICK HERE.

Herb Chambers Collision Center Braintree, MA

The Herb Chambers Companies are growing!

A new collision center and truck repair garage opened recently on Lundquist Drive in Braintree, it represents the Herb Chambers Companies fourth and biggest service center.

The former Braintree warehouse now contains 44 body shop repair bays and 16 repair spots for commercial trucks and buses. There are plans to hire twenty more technicians for the center which opened last month.

The collision center that was operating on Washington Street is now closed.  In recent years, a number of local Ford Dealerships closed their doors which lead to a steady increase in repair business for Herb Chambers.

The Lundquist Drive Building is 78,400 square feet and was purchased two years ago by the Herb Chambers Companies for three million dollars. An estimated five million was spent in converting the space into a state of the art collision center and truck repair shop.

This collision facility is far from ordinary; it provides a more modern environment than most body shops.  Windows for natural light, vacuum hoses area attached to the tools that sand vehicles to allow for scrubbing dust particles out of the air.

Every aspect of the operation is equipped with the most up to date computerized diagnostic equipment to help technicians straighten frames or match paint to cars’ original colors.  Office space is available for insurance appraisers to use to fill out reports.

The Herb Chambers new collision center will also be used to expand a growing heavy truck repair business. Over a half a million dollars was spent to elevate the roof of the building to accommodate box trucks and buses. The truck repair facility replaces the one on Wood Road, which has a lease that expires in May.

Maximizing the use of the space; part of the building will be used to store new vehicles such as Ford Mustangs with accessories that are frequent targets of thieves when parked outside at a dealership.

The Herb Chambers Companies is expanding in 2009!  In addition to the Somerville-based auto groups 43 dealerships in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  New dealerships in Westboro and Sudbury are scheduled to open in the next few months.  In February, an all new dealership has opened for Audi Burlington, A Herb Chambers Company and Porsche of Burlington, A Herb Chambers Company located on 62 Cambridge St., Route 3A, Burlington, Massachusetts.

The Herb Chambers Collision center in Braintree is hiring experienced craftsmen to fill painters and metal technicians for the body shop and diesel-certified mechanics for the truck repair shop.