MSNBC.com posted an interesting article regarding the Fiat 500 as it prepares for its launch this Wednesday:
Fiat Auto will be showcasing the rebirth of an iconic car and its own financial revival when it relaunches the Cinquecento city car at festivities around Italy on Wednesday.
In reviving the Cinquecento in multiple versions, with improved technology and a high price for its size, Fiat is following the lead of BMW, which has produced more than 1m Minis since relaunching an upscale version of the car in 2001.
Fiat will offer customers a choice of accessories for their 500s including chrome elements, special wheel rims and upholstery, and Italian-flag graphics, making ñ it says ñ more than 500,000 permutations possible. The carmaker is also aiming for a five-star crash-test rating, ambitious for a car barely 3Ω-metres long.
The Turin-based producer is also billing the Cinquecento as “the manifesto of a ‘new Fiat’.” Under chief executive Sergio Marchionne, the company has swung back into profit and increased its share in a tough European market. Last month Fitch Ratings gave Fiat’s debt its first investment-grade credit rating in four years.
The new Cinquecento’s price, starting at about Ä10,000 ($13,600), will put it towards the top end of Europe’s growing city-car segment, where it will sit alongside models such as the Citroen C1 and Renault Twingo. Company officials try to discourage comparisons with BMW’s luxury Minis, which start at Ä15,850 and go up to Ä21,600 for the Mini Cooper S.
The full article can be found at the following link:
I was at the launch in Turin and had the opportunity to drive the car, both 1.3 Multijet and 1.4 versions. You can forget all the old jokes about Fiat, this really is a super car and will do very, very well for the Fiat company. Like the mini (same designer) and unlike the ‘new Beetle’, the new 500 is a real car, not just a redrawing of an old car. Think small car, but think BIG comeback. HJG.
Very good to hear. Did you snap any photos?
Is it good? Read CAR magazine’s (one of the best auto mags out there from the UK) piece on the new 500. ‘nuf said.