Autoblog

UPDATE 1: Tipster Nicolas emailed to let us know that the full unveiling will happen tomorrow in Stuttgart, as reported by Le Blog Auto.

So much for embargoes. Glamour shots of the new 2007 Smart ForTwo are making the rounds on the web, and our sister site, Autoblog Spanish, was kind enough to share them with us. Larger and apparently better-equipped than the outgoing ForTwo, this is the one DCX is bringing Stateside for Roger Penske to sell to us.

Details are scarce at the moment, but we do know that the ForTwo sports a nifty interior. As for the exterior? Well, it looks like a Smart -- stubby and friendly-faced, with a healthy dose of Euro-style. The doors appear to be the single largest body panels on the car, an aspect some potential buyers might find less than confidence-inspiring, given that the itsy-bitsy Smart will share the road with H2s, Expeditions, Armadas, Escalades, Suburbans, and many other larger vehicles... such as the Honda Civic.

It'll be utterly polarizing (read: unbelievably popular), be featured on every single newscast in America at launch, and probably be the "in" thing to have in certain urban locales. Observers, both interested and casual, have a lot to look forward to here.

(Additional photos after the jump)

[Source: Autoblog Spanish (translated)]

Those were the less-than decisive words of DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche in a newspaper interview published Sunday in Germany. The final decision is expected later this month, but it looks like the two-seater Smart may indeed take a shot at the U.S. market, in the guise of the redesigned 2007 model. Just in time, the ever-vigilant folks over at WorldCarFans.com have a gallery of spy shots of the 2007 ForTwo here.

If the minicar does hit the U.S., it will have to be part of a Smart strategy to (finally) turn a profit in 2007. In the past year, Smart has received the full Zetsche treatment, axing the four-seater and roadster models, and dropping plans for a mini-SUV, leaving the automaker with only the ForTwo model.

[Source: Reuters]