NF500 / 2007 / October

The website of BBC TV car show “Top Gear” has launched an “Uncut” feature, showing sections of the show that didn’t make the TV, mostly due to offensive language. However, one of the first out-takes they’ve included shows a little snippet on the new Fiat 500 (although on screen they show the Trepiùno concept).

Jeremy Clarkson calls the 500 beautiful and Richard Hammond appears equally enamoured, James May on the other hand dismisses the 500 as basically a tarted up Fiat Panda.

Here’s the link. Beware, it’s a bit rambling.

To coincide with Frieze art fair, artist Tracey Emin has been commissioned by Fiat to design artwork for four unique Fiat 500s, which will be used to help publicise the 500 prior to launch in the UK.

Tracey Emin has apparently been given an example to drive about the show in, and another example will go under the hammer on October 13th at the Contemporary Art Auction, the proceeds of which will go to charity PEAS to raise funds for a school library in Uganda.

If anyone ever needed a car giving to them, it has to be an internationally renown top class footballer.  Fortunately for Juventus captain and World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero, Fiat have (so far as our translation tools and skills can figure) gifted him with an exclusive No.10 new Fiat 500.

Lorenzo Sistino, CEO of Fiat Automobiles, handed the new 500 to Del Piero at the Mirafiori Motor Village, inside the historic Mirafiori plant in Turin.  The 500 in question is a 1.4 Sport model with automatic air conditioning, fog lamps, and red painted brake callipers listed among its optional extras.

We’re not sure if there’s any kind of charity tie in or if it’s a pure case of “give a footballer a free car, get some cool credits in return”, but we really hope it’s the former, or he actually paid for it.  If anyone knows for sure, we’d love to know score here!

We already new this, but it is nice to get official word, and here it is:

The seven finalists for the prestigious “Car of the Year 2008″ accolade have been revealed as the Fiat 500, Ford Mondeo, Kia Cee’d, Mazda 2, Mercedes-Benz C-class, Nissan Qashqai and the Peugeot 308.

The finalists were decided by a first round vote by the 58 European jury members from a list of 35 eligible cars, all launched in the past 12 months.

The second round of voting (deadline 12 November), in which jury members have 25 points to allocate to at least five cars (with no ties for first place), will decide the Car of the Year 2008. The winner will be announced across Europe on Monday 19 November 2007. A special presentation will be made to the winning car manufacturer at the annual Autocar Awards in London the same evening.

The Car of the Year is in its 45th year. The jury consists of professional motoring writers from 22 European countries. The British jury members are: Steve Cropley, editor-in-chief of Autocar; Andrew English, motoring correspondent of The Daily Telegraph; Paul Horrell, contributing editor, Top Gear magazine; Ray Hutton, motor industry correspondent of The Sunday Times; John Simister, motoring correspondent of The Independent; and David Williams, motoring editor of the Evening Standard. Ray Hutton is the president of the International Jury.

The organising committee consists of seven leading European publications - Autocar in the UK, Auto in Italy, L’Automobile in France, Autopista in Spain, Auto Visie in Holland, Stern in Germany and Vi Bilagare in Sweden.

The Fiat 500 is among seven finalists for the 2008 Car of the Year awards.  The official announcement of the shortlist was apparently due next week, but several motoring sites are already reporting the chosen finalists, which includes the new Fiat 500 among its ranks.  The full list is as follows:

• Fiat 500
• Ford Mondeo
• Kia cee’d
• Mazda 2
• Mercedes C-class
• Nissan Qashqai
• Peugeot 308

KW has released details of their new suspension package for the Fiat 500, full KW press release, and a couple of photos of a rather “slammed” looking little Fiat to follow…

Sportier appearance and better handling: KW coilover suspension V1 for new Fiat 500

• Racing-technology for the road
• Customised lowering of suspension up to 60 mm
• Coilover suspensions produced in stainless steel “inox-line” technology

The new Fiat 500 won quickly the hearts of most of the people. The small car with its beautiful retro-style is already sold out in Italy and Fiat can satisfy the other markets only through extra production due to the great demand. KW automotive now makes the cute “Cinquecento” become a go-kart in terms of driving characteristics through its coilover suspension Variant 1. The vehicle´s level can be lowered between 30 and 60 mm at the front axle and from 10 to 40 mm at the rear axle. The coilover suspension V1 for the Fiat 500 is available with immediate effect.

KW coilover suspensions – 3 damping variants for every type of driver

Coilover suspension V1 with preset damper setting permits customised lowering of the suspension and creates an optimised balance of sportiness, comfort and safety.  Damping variant V2 is the ideal system for sporty drivers, who also wish to make modifications in the set-up to achieve a more customised lowering of the suspension. Thanks to the adjustable rebound damping, it is possible to adapt the driving comfort to suit the driver’s personal taste.

With its separately adjustable pressure and rebound damping functions, coilover suspension V3 permits an even higher degree of customisation to the suspension and provides the perfect solution for those truly technically demanding drivers.

All KW coilover suspensions are produced in the unique stainless steel “inox line” technology. This assures the extremely high quality and durability of the suspensions plus a long-lasting perfect finish to match.

Further information on the wide range of KW automotive GmbH covering springs, dampers, sport and coilvover suspensions is available on the Internet at www.kwsuspensions.de.

Reports made today are quoting Luca De Meo, head of group marketing, saying that Fiat project producing the maximum number of new Fiat 500s possible next year, with production at the Tychy being stretched to its predicted maximum of 150,000 vehicles.

De Meo is quoted by various sources as saying

We have already raised the production targets for the new 500 and we are going to the maximum production capacity. We are examining the possibility of increasing it…

We have spoken of 120,000 units and the possibility of rising to 140,000-150,000. I believe that we will use all of it

Earlier, De Meo said in a newspaper interview that 500 orders have risen to 80,000, from a 75,000 figure recently cited.