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Lititz car dealer OK'd to sell Zaps
After two months, PennDOT finally says all-electric vehicles can be sold.
Lancaster New Era
Published: Oct 02, 2008
12:51 EST
Lititz
By Tim Mekeel, Staff Writer

Mike Cronin has been charged up about selling the all-electric vehicles on his lot for nearly two months.

Now he can.

The Lititz car dealer has been told by PennDOT that the Zap Xebras will be titled and registered.

That means he can sell them at last, becoming the county's only dealer to sell all-electric vehicles.

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"I'm ecstatic," said Cronin on Wednesday. "We let a little wind out of our sails, sitting here for two months without being able to sell them.

"We just have to get back on a roll."

Cronin, the owner of Lititz Car Co., received his first shipment of Zaps in early August, believing he had PennDOT's assurances that the vehicles would be titled and registered.

Then he learned otherwise. So, with five new $12,500 Zap trucks on his lot, and buyers in hand for each, Cronin began two months of meetings, e-mails and phone calls with PennDOT.

While canceling his second shipment of Zaps, Cronin answered questions about vehicle identification numbers, safety and inspection requirements, make and manufacturer, and other issues.
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All have been resolved. PennDOT spokeswoman Danielle Klinger said the department is satisfied that Cronin's documentation meets the requirements for the Zaps to be titled and registered in the state.

Cronin said he already has sold the first Zap to an Ephrata businessman. But the customers who reserved the remaining Zaps in early August have bought other vehicles by now.

So Cronin is going to cut the price by $2,000 to help them sell quickly. Meanwhile, he's working to reschedule that second shipment of Zaps — three trucks and three cars.

Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.


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Thanks to all that helped and supported me in the effort to make these earth friendly vehicles available in Pa. My Thanks also to the officials at PennDOT for working beyond what they were required, to make this possible. Its clear these vehicles are not for everybody, but for those of us that are willing to trade some of the comforts were use to in exchange for expensive fuel costs and more earth friendly transportation, This is a major leap forward.
To promote and help jumpstart the sale of there vehicles after this delay, ZAP and LITITZ CAR CO. have worked together to offer the deeply discounted prices on the vhicles that have been instock during the delay, That was not mentioned in todays article and was my eror. Yes I will need to sell them for a profit in the future but this discount is larger than the mark-up ZAP dealers get.
zapman
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