Daily Debate: Is Smart a Success?

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.