European Automakers Plan to Fill Niche in SUV, Higher Priced Segments

Washington DC August 28, 2006; The AIADA newsletter reported that while Japanese automakers prepare smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles for the North American market, European automakers will focus their vehicle plans on SUVs and higher priced segments, reports Automotive News.

This year, Mercedes-Benz and Audi are launching big SUVs; and BMW's redesigned X5 goes on sale in November and two BMW crossovers are expected in the next 30 months.

Aside from DaimlerChrysler's Smart car, Europeans are wary of bringing small cars to the U.S. Mercedes halted plans to import the compact B class, and Audi says it will not export the A2 to the U.S.