NF500 / 2008 / March

According to an interview in the Financial Times, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has made a vow to “replicate the Mini phenomenon in the US”, saying that the Fiat 500 will be released Stateside after the range has expanded to include further models.

That’s a pretty high standard to set the diminutive Fiat, considering that MINI, under parent company BMW, arguably worked on completely transforming the public attitude towards small cars in the States with a highly effective (and expensive) advertising campaign. MINI had the further advantage of a well established network of successful BMW dealers who were more than prepared to put their money into the launch of the MINI brand with dedicated showrooms across the states.

It will be interesting to see how Fiat tackle targeting America with the new 500, which will follow the Alfa Romeo brand back to the USA, but it’s going to be a tall order and very interesting to watch.

According to Evo, Fiat have confirmed that the Stop&Start technology previewed as part of the Fiat 500 Aria concept car will make it into production. No suggestion of when this will happen is provided in the article, except to say that the 1.2 petrol model will receive the upgrade first, followed the 1.3 diesel.

Apparently the 1.2 becomes four percent more economical with the technology, whereas the diesel gains around two and a half percent.

Yes you heard that right. It’s Friday, and we’re giving away free stuff!

We have some NF500.com window stickers up for grabs, completely free, for the first twenty people who submit a comment here telling us why your 500 (or 500s) would be the ideal home for an NF500.com sticker.

Be creative, or not, it’s up to you, and it’s first come first served.

The stickers are simple white vinyl lettering NF500.com, the largest characters stand at around three and a half centimetres tall. They stick on the inside of the glass, facing out.

They’re high quality vinyl, created by the folk behind MINI Pirate, and the soon to be born Guru Vinyl, who will offer a range of decals to customise your Fiat 500 with.

So roll up folks, post here if you’d like a sticker or two (don’t be greedy now!) and we’ll be in touch via email or private message to get your postage details. Please do NOT post your email address or postal address as part of your message.

The new Fiat 500 has added to its extensive trophy haul by taking top honours in the Small and Compact Vehicle category at this year’s Auto 1 Awards, held in Geneva last week.

Fiat’s new city car won the class comfortably, taking votes not only from the Auto 1 organisation’s editors, experts and racing drivers, but also millions of enthusiastic readers across Europe.

Auto 1 titles are awarded by the Auto Bild Europe magazines group which is made up of 26 European-wide specialist car magazines, including the UK’s Auto Express. Voting is carried out by each magazine before short-listed cars go forward to a demanding and challenging judging process.

With a starting price of just £7,900 OTR, the new Fiat 500 represents excellent value for money and positions the car well below what Fiat consider to be benchmark rivals. At the top end of the range, a highly specified version with a larger engine costs only £10,700 – an OTR price that includes air conditioning and alloy wheels as standard.

Available with a choice of three frugal, ultra-low emissions, Euro 5-ready engines: 69 bhp 1.2-litre and 100 bhp 1.4-litre petrol, or 75 bhp 1.3-litre MultiJet turbodiesel, the new Fiat 500 can be ordered in three different trim levels – Pop, Sport and Lounge.

We at NF500 are not sure what the photos included with this press release have to do with this particular reward, but we’re always happy to share Fiat 500 eye candy, and maybe it’s the award that the women in the second photo are smiling about?!

Fiat Group Automobiles UK Ltd has just opened a stylish new Flagship Store in London’s West End, and is marking the occasion with a design exhibition and celebrity party.

The showroom, located in the heart of the capital at Wigmore Street, London W1, features a cutting-edge interior of chrome and glass which provides a striking backdrop to the range of Fiat cars on display.

The company scored a PR coup in January when it launched the iconic new Fiat 500 in the UK by ‘flying’ it in one of the capsules on the London Eye. Now Fiat is working on establishing its new Flagship Store as a ‘cool’ place for car buyers and Fiat enthusiasts, as well as marketing it as a venue for corporate meetings, fashion shows, art and design exhibitions, and as a lavish set for film makers.

CNN (yes, that CNN) has already booked the Fiat Flagship Store for a high level seminar for the automotive world’s leading marketers and media opinion-formers. But not us, sadly.

Coinciding with a glittering celebrity party kicked off by the Italian Ambassador Giancarlo Aragona, the opening night exhibition, called Fiat Workpop 500, featured the work of 22 young designers who are competing to design an accessory for the Fiat 500 that will be chosen to go into production, and become available for general sale.

Top international designer Ron Arad, Head of the Design Products Department at the Royal College of Art, and chairman of leading Italian homeware group Guzzini, is heading the competition’s panel of judges.

Ron Arad attended the Fiat Flagship Store opening night (Tuesday 11 March) along with Fiat Centro Stile’s Roberto Giolito – the designer and ‘father’ of the Fiat 500 –Andrew Humberstone, managing director, Fiat Group Automobiles UK, Tony Dittli, managing director of the Flagship Store, and Elena Bernardelli, marketing director, Fiat Group Automobiles UK.

The Fiat 500 Workpop exhibition, our relationships with the London Design Museum, where the new Fiat 500 is being exhibited, and the London Design Festival, which we sponsor, reflects Fiat’s enthusiasm to interact with our style and design partners,

says Elena Bernardelli.

Car Design News, the largest media in car design, has announced the two winners of their Car Design of the Year, the winners are:

• BMW Concept CS wins Car Design of the Year 2007 – Concept
• Fiat 500 wins Car Design of the Year 2007 – Production

For the third consecutive year, Car Design News ran an online vote for the best car designs to debut during 2007. With over a thousand responses and an international readership including more car designers than any other media, this is considered the most qualified award within the car design world – as Car Design News would have it, ‘by designers for designers’.

Awards were presented to the design team of each winning design at the Geneva Motor Show on Wednesday 5th March.

The voting in full was as follows:

Car Design of the Year 2007 – Concept:

• 1st Place: BMW Concept CS, 4794 points
• 2nd Place: Mazda Taiki. 4495 points
• 3rd Place: Citroën C-Cactus. 4115 points

Car Design of the Year 2007 – Production:

• 1st Place: Fiat 500, 4643 points
• 2nd Place: Maserati Gran Turismo. 4140 points
• 3rd Place: Audi A5. 3965 points

For the second year running Fiat group have won the production car category, this year claiming the top two places. The Fiat 500 was the clear winner, with 50% of readers giving it a top three ranking. This clear victory for the 500 is made more impressive when considering the other top five contenders were all luxury models costing far more than the baby Fiat.

Roberto Giolito, Head of Fiat Design, accepted the award together with Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Design Director of Fiat Group Automobiles.

We are really pleased to receive this award

said Ramaciotti,

it’s the second year in a row that Fiat Group have won, last year with the Alfa 8C at the top end and now the Fiat 500 at the lower end of our range and the Maserati in second place this year

At this year’s Geneva Motorshow, Italian specialist coachbuilder and tuner Caroozzeria Castagna will be showcasing their new Fiat 500 “WoodyWagon”.

The WoodyWagon is the first example of an aftermarket company considerably altering the bodywork and underpinnings of the standard 500, stretching and dressing the Fiat 500 to produce a retro futuristic station wagon version of the hit small car.

Could this give a glimpse of the official Fiat 500 Station Wagon, or Giardiniera, that Fiat are said to be planning for the year 2010?