It looks like it evolved from a car made for hamsters, but the 500 has been a runaway hit since it was introduced in 2007. The 500 displaced Daimler's Smart as Europe's favorite city car. And if you've driven on Italy's crowded city streets you can understand why: you can park the 500 on a sidewalk or a crosswalk, like the Romans do, and still give pedestrians some room to get by. Fiat has been eager to find a way to export the 500 to the U.S.