2008 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe: New Beetle?

I don't think that the top picture is from 2003. Look at the clothes the people are wearing. Late 70's, maybe early 80's?

Plus the number in the pic is 20 million, which leads me to think that this was a celebration of that milestone.

I choose B. The Beetle (of which I owned 2) was cheap, reliable, easy to repair, practical and for it's day fuel efficient.

The Smart is cheap (to buy at least, see below) and fuel efficient, although since it requires Premium, the 40mpg is not as valuable as it would be on regular.

But practical? I don't think so. And based on what I have seen in the posts, it's not going to cheap to fix, even if it's cheap to buy.

This car will never be more than a novelty in the US as it's currently configured.

mhart27 - this is Mexico. I think that explains it.

I hope it isn't the new Beetle! Yikes. It is an insult to cars.

The Beetle was an affordable econobox that offered good value for the dollar.

The smart is an overprice abomination-on-wheels whose only reason for still having evaded the chopping block is its quirky styling and ultra-chic and eco-friendly image.

They're both small cars. The similarities end there.

This comparison reminds me of an old, and stupid, joke: What's the difference between a turtle and a garbage truck? They both have wheels, except the turtle.

The Tata Nano, if it makes it to the states, could be the spiritual successor to the original Beetle (rear engine, rear drive, no power steering, cheap, and simple).

Agree with mhart27. The quality of the picture is definately not from 2003.

In Mexico, fashion and camera technology are 30 years behind the rest of the civilized world.

From a 'Day in History':

"May 15, 1981 - 20,000,000th Bug Produced -
The 20,000,000th Volkswagen Beetle was produced at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico. Volkswagen first came to Mexico in 1954 as part of a museum exhibit entitled "Germany and Its Industry." That same year, 250 Beetles were assembled in Mexico. By 1962, Volkswagen had acquired its first assembly plant in Xalostoc, where the company would eventually assemble 50,000 Beetles. Pleased with the new Latin American marketplace, Volkswagen executives made plans to construct a facility in Puebla, a city an hour south of Mexico City. In 1967, the first Beetle was produced at the Puebla plant. Before closing, the Puebla plant produced more than 1.6 million vehicles."

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Volkswagen Up! VW themselves are calling it the spiritual successor to the Beetle.

I agree with others that the Smart and the Beetle are only superficially alike. The Beetle was a revolution in small, practical, and economical transportation. The Smart simply looks economical because it's small. Any of several Japanese subcompacts have similar price and fuel efficiency but are safer and much more practical.

BTW, I love the wind-up crank in the Isetta pic. Everyone here knows it's a joke, right?

I don't think anything will ever be the next "Beetle".

The world has changed and the original Beetle was as much a icon of it's time as it was a good piece of "engineering".

Both the beetle and the smart are small and crappy underpowered cars that get high marks for cuteness. However, the beetle's crappiness came at a bargain basement price, the smart is just a bad deal. I truly hope the smart will never be as widespread as the beetle.

Heck, I'd buy an Isetta rather than a Smart. A concours quality 300 can be found for less than $15K, and you won't lose any money to depreciation.

re: fuhteng and canadia
I'm sorry, but those comments only make you look ignorant. You should try traveling a bit more, and expand your horizons.

Regarding the photo, look at how there are first-gen Golfs and Jettas in the background. This couldn't from 2003, since VW's Puebla plant was producing MkIV Jettas and New Beetles at the time.