New Fiat 500 to star at Australian F1 Grand Prix
August 15th, 2007The new Fiat 500 will be the “star car” in Melbourne next year, as the chosen chariot for the celebrity race warm up event at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix.
BMW recently decided to end it’s eight year association with the Australian F1 Grand Prix, providing Fiat’s new baby the opportunity to step up to the mark.
The association with celebrities and F1 certainly did MINI no harm during its tenure as the celebrity race car of choice, so this move could raise the profile of the new Fiat 500 among the jet-set too.
Entries
August 15th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Cool. I wonder if they’ll use the Abarth version?
August 15th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Would be a wasted opportunity if they didn’t. Well, I think so anyway.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Agreed but didn’t the first MINI event use Cooper’s instead of Cooper S’s?
I feel there may be a couple of reasons they won’t use the Abarth:
1. It’s not ready in time.
2. Fiat are trying to market Abarth as a seperate brand, so I guess it depends on which brand they want to promote.
Either way it’ll be interesting, but sadly being in Australia, I guess very few of us will actually get to see the races.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:39 am
From driving the 500 myself, I think that the Abarth could be the only one genuinely suitable for track use, it doesn’t compare to the Cooper (let alone the S) in performance or agility.
But as you say, depends on how they want to market it, putting a “regular” 500 on the track with celebrities behind the wheel may be a shrewd move, as it could lead people to believe its a more sporty car, rather than just a good looking city car.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:31 am
[...] on from the success of the MINI as the “Star Car” at the Australian Grand Prix, and as previously announced in August, more detrails have been released on the appearance of the Fiat 500 at the 2008 FORMULA [...]