NF500 / 2008 / January

Auto Express have given the new Fiat 500 a nice balanced first drive review, and it’s now up on their website for all to enjoy.

The short piece goes over many of the strengths and weaknesses of the new 500, making the obvious comparisons between the baby Fiat and the baby BMW aka MINI One. The conclusion seems to be the same as many have drawn, maybe not so sporty to drive or as quality overall, but better value for money and, certainly at this stage, more quirky and individual.

Fiat in Germany is using public transport to publicise the Fiat 500 to rail passengers in Berlin.

Fiat have commandeered a special freight train that is cruising around the underground network in Berlin, ridden by a couple of Fiat 500s carrying the message “Happy New Car of the Year to You”.

Clever piece of marketing, you can read more on ItaliaSpeed.

Regional paper the Bucks Free Press are another publication with an easy to enter online competition to win tickets (they’re giving away 20 pairs) the Fiat 500 launch event at the London Eye, where you’ll be able to see the Fiat 500 take to the skies in the London Eye, and listen to singer songwriter Mike put on a performance for the assembled celebrities and fellow competition winners.

Want to enter? Here’s the link.

A pretty much glowing report from start to finish has been published by VerdictOnCars, here’s their summary.

Highly recommended. One of the most interesting, desirable, charming, best value, fun city cars on the market. It’s not the most dynamic to drive, but the forthcoming Abarth version could resolve that. Fiat’s got the basics of its modern Cinquecento absolutely right - it earns a rare five stars.

London-based creative agency Duke.tv has been commissioned by UK terrestrial TV channel Five to create a unique on-air sponsorship campaign for the launch of the Fiat 500.

The campaign is for a remarkable deal, the first of its kind in UK terrestrial broadcasting history, which will see Fiat sponsor the channel for an entire evening, timed to coincide with the launch of the Fiat 500. If you need telling WHEN this will be happening you’ve just not been paying attention. 500 hours into the New Year of course, 21st January at 8pm.

Duke.tv have directed and produced a full scale campaign for the evening, including 10” and 20” countdown teaser spots featuring the Fiat 500 speedometer which will appear on Five every evening until launch.

For the launch evening itself Duke.tv created an integrated 25” Five ident and Fiat sponsorship sequence to be shown before each and every show transmitted after 8pm, and a series of 0.5” ad break flashes which will appear between every commercial in every break. This really is full on stuff!

The overall creative concept behind the ident and sponsorship sequence is that the Fiat 500 and Five ‘brighten up your life’. The piece opens on a lifeless empty car park, when the Fiat 500 drives into the scene and halogen lights spontaneously burst into broad strokes of colour. The car multiplies as it playfully zips around the car park.

Read more at Creative Match.

Automotive News and AutoBlog have been talking about Fiat’s planned Multiair engine technology this week, generating more good PR for Fiat brand and the new 500 in particular.

The Multiair electronic inlet valve control system, as recently displayed in the Fiat Panda Aria concept car, has hit the press again due to Valeo announcing it is developing a new cam-less engine technology, which much like Fiat’s offering will reduce emissions by around 20 percent as well as offering improved performance.

The Valeo system, which is also being developed by both Jacobs Vehicle Systems of Connecticut and Lotus Engineering, has had its share of fits and starts. Packaging issues have caused problems for all involved, particularly on engines with three or four valves per cylinder.

The system doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Fiat’s offering, but it shows the current buzz around the brand that the 500 is making the automotive headlines, even when it’s not strictly the subject matter of the piece.

You can learn more about Fiat’s future engine plans in this previous NF500 article.

Fiat UK have confirmed today via a press release what many regulars to NF500 already know. Beirut-born Grammy Award nominated singer songwriter Mika will be performing songs from his Life In Cartoon Motion album as part of the evening’s entertainment.

The ticketed event begins at six o’clock on the 21st of January and the Fiat 500 will be unveiled “flying” in one of the London Eye capsules at eight o’clock, precisely 500 hours into 2008.

What we didn’t previously know was the Fiat 500 will remain in situ at the London Eye for two weeks following the event. What the press release doesn’t say is if test flights will be available during that time.