The smart fortwo sales have been sluggish in 2009, with sales of only about 7,451 units, which represents a decrease of 16%. Compare that to last year, when they sold 24,622 units, and you’ll see how much of an impact the bad economy has on fortwo sales.

To help the smart fortwo attract more customers, and decrease the number of pre-order cacellations, Mercedes-Benz Fiancial Srvices has decided to run a promo from now until the end of July, giving the option for buyers to qualify for 4.2% financing. Mercedes-Benz and Penske are also working on making it possible for dealers to order new fortwo’s without the need of the current refundable $99 deposit, placing more cars on the lots for customers to chose from.

Honestly, I have my doubts that a better interest rate will do it. There are people that can get better rates from their credit unions, so how will that incentivize them to head down and make the purchase. This seems like one of those ideas that the CFO had, “Oh, how about we offer them a lower, but still high, interest rate, that’ll do it.” Come on guys, where is your creativity? Isn’t smart built on the idea of being different and doing things different. So how about you start doing that. You might wanna check out Hyundai and see how they are doing things.