What will Volkswagon replace the New Beetle with? The New Squareback? I’m not saying I dislike the design of these retro cars, especially the new Mini, but what exactly will they do when they have to replace them? You can’t expect people to rush out to buy your New New Beetle when it comes out, because unless I miss my guess it will have to look like a Beetle, which is hardly a generic look.
I have the same problem with the Mini. It’s a cute little car, but BMW is kind of locked in to the design. Even if the replacement is a much better car, I don’t see how you can convince people to buy a car that looks just like their old Mini, as many seem to buy them as fashion statements.
The new Mustang doesn’t ape the old car quite as much as the Beetle or Mini, but I still don’t know what they’ll replace it with. A redo of the Mustang II ?
I can’t speak to the Beetle, but the Mini, at least, is considered to be an introductory luxury vehicle. In other words, BMW wants hip young people to buy one, and then later upgrade to one of their other cars once they make more money.
It’s also a recreation of a classic car that was around for at least a couple of decades without any major changes to the look. Maybe it doesn’t need to be replaced by a new design. 
BTW, I don’t own one at the moment - I’ve just been obsessed with getting one since I saw it at the NYC Auto Show a few years back. I just need to pay off my truck some more… rubs hands greedily
As was the Beetle – which entered production in the 1930s and only went out of production a year or two ago. (The last ones were made and sold in Mexico.)
I think they should re-introduce the MGB. (Not my site.) It had an 18-year run with virtually no changes to the body shell.
I would love to see an updated version of the gorgeous BMW 507. I saw a beautiful concept skech of such a car, but it hasn’t been put into production.
Other than the hard top, that car is the BMW Z8. No longer in production, and way out of my range when it was, one of the prettiest modern cars out there.
Some day…
Although most Volkswagen models apparently play a very minor role in the US they have a large palette of non-retro models. In terms of volume the New Beetle is insignificant to them and it seems to be more popular in the US than in europe. Once in a while another of their models will make a good basis for a retro model, or they choose a model from one of their other brands: Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini (not even counting the defunct ones)
I had a '64 MGB, and while it was a nice little car, it wasn’t terribly reliable mechanically. Someone once said “British cars were designed to give Englishmen something to do on weekends” (fix them) Of the sports cars I owned in my youth, the one I’d most like to see again was the '57 Triumph TR3 (sorry about the dark photo.) Great fun to drive and virtually indestructable.
If Chevy would re-introduce this car (with a lightweight V-6, 5-speed, and turbo) the car would sell like hotcakes! Man, I wanted one and I still want one! 
This at the car shows, VW introduced this concept car.
I f they had any sense, they’d restyle the front end and make it a retro Karmann Ghia.
I’d buy one.
I’d be interested to see a 2005 take on the Porsche 912 – the only sports car I’ve ever coveted.
It has the same sort of appeal for me that a VW Bug has – just the right combination of curvey and lumpy.
They do make a 2005 version of the 912 – although it has a six cylinder engine. The 912 was a 4-cyl. version of the 911, and the 911 is still in production as the 911/996. 
The 912 was an entry-level Porsche. Today’s entry-level Porsche is the Boxster (which could be considered the “retro version” of the Porsche 550 Spyder, though I don’t think that was entirely the intent).
Yeah, the car magazines are running articles about “how do you update a car that’s supposed to look kind of old?”
I guess you have to decide how much you want to stick with the looks of the old version. How much will people make the leap to buying one that isn’t so original looking?
Well, the real problem is that car makers have ran out of ideas for designs, and being desperate to generate “buzz” and sales, have dredged out the old designs and updated them in hopes that it’ll bring folks into the showrooms willing to plunk down hard cash for cars with huge profit margins. Sometimes it works (the New Beetle), sometimes it doesn’t (the Ford “Thunderchicken”). In the meantime, they can experiment with their other designs, hoping that they’ll come up with one that’s a hit.
Car makers, though, have ran into the same problem George Lucas has, you can really load something up with “geewhiz” stuff, and still come up with a bland, unappealing product. Ross Perot said that the problem with GM was that it didn’t have any engineers willing to get their hands dirty. Perhaps the same comment could apply to designers as well.
:looks around:
No sir, I don’t like it. Those headlights have no personality. Actually, they do have personality: They’re screaming “I’m a dick! Hate me!”
Funny what a difference minor changes make.
I agree about the Camaro. Chevy should bring that back, not in some vaguely retro Camo-ish kind of way, but nearly the exact car. Maybe 90% of the old car in shape, but with modern tires. For good measure, drop a modernized 327 in it, putting out 400 HP. They’ll sell a zillion of 'em.
Ford is going to have a huge success on its hands with the new Mustang. The thing looke like a 1967 Shelby GT350. 400 HP in the GT version. We need to kick off another pony car war. We need a retro Camaro.
I agree. Well, somewhat. I think the best looking 911 was the 911/993. Loved those fenders! But the 911/996 is starting to grow on me. I still don’t like the Boxster headlights on it though.
A question though: Can there be a “retro version” of a car that has been in production for 40 years, when the basic shape is the same?
I have a Mini, so I can answer this.
Say my Mini gets old and I want a new one. I have NO problem going out and getting another that looks just like mine. I absolutely LOVE my mini the way it looks now. I don’t know of any Mini owner that wouldn’t. Why is there a need to replace them anyway?
The Mini offers so many options. Maybe the next one would be a different color. Or have a different interior. Or maybe I’ll have a jazzy pucci printed on the exterior of my next one? Maybe I’ll have the John Cooper package installed? Maybe it will have the new halogen lights? Maybe I’ll get the Monte Carlo Rallye edition?
That’s the kind of stuff that keeps us hooked. The basic car can stay the same, but just have new or different features.
Further, the rumors abound of a Maxi (a slightly larger mini), a convertable and of a wagon (a custom place in Italy is currently doing this).
Isn’t that what the New Mini is? 
I watched The Italian Job (1969) last night. I’d much rather have one of those Minis. Smaller and much cooler than the new version.
They cannot be so foolish as to attempt to call it that in the US. For if they do, I’m gonna make a mint selling stick-on letters so folks can slap “pad” on the cars!
