Smart definitely was a success story...
and as I just found out online,the sales figures of the Smart Fortwo went up by 39% compared to 2008 ..

I could very well imagine people buying these cars for their daughters,wifes or just as a handy city car which even functions as a status symbol

 

I'm still looking for an online source, but I recall reading in CAR Magazine that as of sometime in 2008, the Smart company had yet to turn a profit. According to wikipedia, the company bled some four billion Euros between 2003 and 2006 before they were absorbed into Daimler-Benz.
Smarts came on the market in 1998. I'm not entirely sure I'd call 10 years of operations without profit a definite success. On the other hand, it could be argued that as a trailblazer, the Smart car would always have a harder time on the market.

Related to my trouble with finding some actual information on the company itself, does anybody know of a good online resource for company overviews, as in growth, revenue, profit data, CEOs etc.?

 

dunno...

but here is the article I`ve read smart auf dem Genfer Autosalon 2009 - Autosieger

 

+1

As of right now, there are BIGGER cars, for approximately the same or less money with the SAME fuel economy as the Smart in the States. Thus why it's really not a 'good deal' as viewed by most American's.

Outside of the city, what would you rather be in, a Smart FourTwo or a Honda Civic on a 5 lane highway doing 70mph with a huge SUV behind you? (I know the Smart is very safe, it's more of a poke fun at the smart comment than anything else)

 

Nice, but wouldn't work in America, people are too big and mock you when you drive a small car. Its in ppl's mentality here to like big things, it will never change.

 

Agreed. To quote the sage Kid Rock...

"I don't like small cars, or real big women,
but somehow, I always find myself in 'em."

 

The effin' global warming quacks are ruining everyones life. The refitting of industrial plants, having all these MPG/CO2 laws, it all pisses me off. I will never drive one of these death traps. I hope when some uber-rich guy who has this clown AM car leaves his estate and gets hit by his neighbor's range rover and turns into a pancake that being PC and buying into the "coolness" factor really pays off for him. The worst part about it is that all these world leaders who are proponents for this BS, and even Al Gore are the worst offenders for emissions - he has to keep his heated pool house warm while he is flying jumbo jets around the world.
/rant

 

wtf

 

So does Ferrari get the credit on those little 500 branded cars they built.

 

errrrr, leave that stuff to toyota.