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" Smart USA apparently thinks so. The company just announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan to collaborate on a new 5-seat vehicle for sale in the U.S. This new Smart, a 5-door gasoline-powered B-segment vehicle from Nissan, is expected to go on sale at Smart USA dealers in the fourth quarter of 2011. This car will be shorter than a Versa, and likely built on the Nissan Micra chassis. &amp;quot;We are proud to be a partner with both Daimler and Nissan, two companies focused on bringing high-quality, fuel-efficient products to the U.S. market,&amp;quot; says Roger Penske, Chairman of the Penske Automotive Group, which owns Smart USA. Our take: This new collaboration with Nissan may be key to Smart USA&amp;#039;s survival. Through September of 2009, Smart had sold 12,421 cars in the U.S. For the same period in 2010, that number dropped to only 4779.  Related posts:  Smart House, Nissan \u2013 2011 Tokyo Auto Show GM repays loan, but still on the gov&amp;#039;t hook Daimler&amp;#039;s Car2go Fleet of Electric Smart Fortwos Heads to San Diego  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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