Lever-actions are doing quite well, contrary to the seemingly overwhelming mass of the AR and precision/long-range rifle crazes dominating the market. While those rifles are wildly popular with the larger part of the market, there is still a large-enough segment thereof to warrant making them - or they just wouldn't.
I'm glad to see it. I'd love to see as much of a comeback for single-shots and SA revolvers as well. If Rossi saw fit to do a major retool, just to keep making rifles designed over a hundred years ago, and Ruger felt it was worthwhile to bring back the relatively recently deceased Marlins, there's something to that. Smith investing serious money in making something so out of character for them, at least in modern times, really emphasizes the point. Henry hasn't seemed to slow down one bit since they started and it's not just because of a determined entrepreneur insisting "this boat is gonna fly, by God!" They're onto something.
I don't hate the new Smith, but I would prefer a much more basic, "toned-down" rifle, without the fancy features I can do without. I'd love to see someone making levers like many manufacturers used to do under the "store-brand" concept, with a commensurately lower price-tag.
It doesn't have to be pretty either, but the feature I find the most loathsome these days is the apparent need to make things ugly for the mere sake of the aesthetic. Not that this new Smith is ugly, but the idea seems to pervade the industry these days and even several really ugly levers have been offered and, worse yet, at a premium over the regular models. If it's simply inherently ugly because no one bothered to make it pretty after perfecting a functional design, then I'm perfectly OK with ugly.
Anyway, levers are selling and I'm pleased with that. They make a lot of sense for a lot of applications - a lot more for me than my beloved old Mausers with their faster, flatter-shooting cartridges, which I never really needed,... except for woodchucks and coyotes. They very often stay beyond MY practical range using a handgun cartridge in a lever.