Daily Debate: Is Smart a Success?

By Marty Padgett July 7th, 2008

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It seems like only yesterday we took the 2008 smart fortwo for its inaugural road test here at TheCarConnection.com. Long before it arrived Stateside, though, the smart began rolling off an assembly line in Hambach, France, and joined the pop-culture lexicon as one more way to fight traffic and fuel prices.

Has it been a success, though? Smart has gone through a couple of reorganizations since it was founded more than a decade ago. It's added a four-door model--and dropped it. Sales in the U.S. are critical to its long-term survival, and the brand's even launching in China next year to expand its tiny footprint. An electric version is undergoing testing in London as well, to perhaps give the smart the green-car panache it doesn't truly have today.

Now that smart's arrived here, is the decade-old experiment about to pay off? Do you think smart's time has come and gone--and if not, which vehicles do they need to park in your garage? Tell us in the comment section below.

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14 Responses to “Daily Debate: Is Smart a Success?”

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“BobJuly 7th, 2008 - 4:32 pm
How can it be a success when it’s lost millions? My two cents, if you can’t sell some puny car like that in Europe at a profit, you’ve got no chance here”

Exactly. Bob obviously is well informed.

In europe the silly Smart has failed mioserably, since it is impractically short of space, and since you can buy a 5-seater with almost the same MPG for |LESS!!! AND that 5-seater will have a far better transmission than the DISMAL one that the smart has, and far better ride and feel.

In the US, thwe Smafrt got lucky to have had perfect timing, but it will always be a tiny niche vehicle for spoled hopuswwifes who want a tiny car to go shopping downtown, and have 5 more cars in the family garage.

{{{* Epiphany*}}} is a word the GERMANS need!.
The Smart is definitely “”" NOT-nor-and-nand” any thing that can include the American definition of the WORD [smart], Other then the”" INTRINSIC”{ smart- alex pricing: for some-thing this small} [ in ] value?.
Strange sense of HUMOR they have !. BUILD a motorized ROLLER-SKATE, call it a car, and “”COMPLETELY ***IGNORE**:: That this, and any vechicle of it size, JUST “”LOCKED”" horns with the scooter and motorcycle , MARKET, that is any where from Thirty[30%]percent- too- Seventy[70%]percent LESS![overall cost /and cost efficiencies].
They!: are not very `smart’[en/us] at all, ??. So why waste my hard earned MONEY??, to make my self [into] the “NUMBER ONE VILLAGE IDIOT”"??, any sales person[s], does not deliberately !! :: :: “humiliate, berate, belittle, AND!! most of all does not want!; to be a party to turning there customer[consumer] base in to some “”CLASS CLOWN ACT” for all to MAKE a spectacle of!!.
Germany!! :: sailed off the “”DEEP-END” and the Auto-JOURNALIST”; out there should inform them, of these [intricacies] of the american consumer!.
SMART[” FAILURE”} is all!! ; this car will ever amount too!.

Agree with bob-they don’t sell where gas is twice as much.If you could buy one for say seven grand-but at twice that fogedaboudit.

It is a success, and will continue to be so.In traffic laden cities this car is perfect. If you need to scoot across town why drive anything bigger. Now, for a cross country or extended trip it will stink. However, this is the future, and everyone will be joining it soon. GM Take notice, build the Beat and Groove, now! Gas mileage is OK, but then again, so is it in the Mini, but they’re everywhere. GM, I hope you hear this….