NF500 / 2008 / April

The Fiat 500 seats offer only a “marginal” level of safety, according to results published by research institute Thatcham this week.

In fact, superminis in general did not come out of the latest study, focusing on whiplash protection, with much to be proud about. Only the Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo achieved an “acceptable” rating among this category of vehicle.

You can see the detailed results of tests on the Fiat 500 seating at the Tatcham website. It has to be said they don’t make comfortable reading for those concerned about occupant safety, and may come as a surprise to many considering the five star Euro NCAP rating the Fiat 500 has been awarded for overall safety.

There’s been a few posts about this on the new Fiat 500 forums here at NF500, so we thought we’d give one of Fiat’s latest Italian initiatives a little more coverage here too.

The Fiat 500 Pop Up Store is a temporary store devoted entirely to the new Fiat 500, is open now and will remain so until July 31st 2008. So if you’re in the area, you might want to pop buy and check out the Fiat 500 goodies on display.

Apparently the Pop Up store has set its intentions on being much more than a simple car showroom, and will offer free wi-fi to visitors, as well as numerous special events related in some way or another to the Fiat 500, some directly, and some artistically “inspired by” the Fiat 500.

If you reach Milan before August you’ll find the store Located in De Tocqueville No 11.

Consultancy and research company JATO have declared that among the top ten selling vehicle manufacturers in Europe, Fiat Automobiles recorded the lowest average CO2 emissions value for automobiles sold during 2007, setting an impressive benchmark of 137.3 g/km

The full rundown puts Fiat ahead of Peugeot at 141.9 g/km with sister company Citroen coming in at 142.2 g/km. Another French manufacturer, Renault come in fourth place with 146.4 g/km average, followed by Ford at 149.1 g/km. The chasing pack is made up my Vauxhall/Opel, Volkswagen, BMW, and in last palce Mercedes with average CO2 emissions of 188.4 g/km.

The results of this important analysis reward Fiat’s ongoing commitment to finding innovative solutions to reduce levels of polluting emissions and CO2

explained Lorenzo Sistino, managing director of Fiat Automobiles

Fiat’s aim is always to stay closer to people’s real needs and its commitment does not end here. Irrespective of what is decided by the powers-that-be in Europe, our aim is still to achieve the lowest average adjusted level of CO2 emissions for Fiat cars by 2012. Fiat intends to achieve this result by introducing an action plan on engines and transmissions, in addition to the use of the Eco Drive, an innovative application developed with Microsoft that is able – via the USB Port of the versatile Blue&Me system - to analyse motorists’ driving styles, helping them to optimise behaviour in terms of fuel consumption and hence emissions.

While Fiat are very publicly touting their eco-credentials of late, with innovations in the pipeline concerning hybrid drive systems and other combined fuel saving technologies, as recently shown in the Fiat 500 Aria concept, one huge aid in achieving these figures is Fiat’s product portfolio, which leans heavily towards smaller, and therefore almost by default, more frugal and lower emitting cars than many rivals.

Fiat are also working hard to be ready for future regulation ahead of time, for example the Fiat 500 and the Fiat Bravo have already seen the introduction of Euro 5 Ready power units (petrol and diesel) to the range. And by the end of 2009, the majority of engines in the entire Fiat range will be Euro 5 ready. Fiat is also the first manufacturer to develop the Multijet technology that drives all new-generation diesel cars and is a world leader in the field of methane-driven OEM cars (more than 50,000 were sold last year in Italy).

While investing in alternative fuel technology, Fiat is also embarking on a mission to downsize its diesel and petrol engine versions, as demonstrated by the new 1.4 T-Jet and 1.6 Multijet families. The adoption of a new-generation turbocharger, combined with a smaller capacity engine, enables Fiat to achieve performance levels on a par with, or even in excess of higher-capacity power units, but with lower fuel consumption and emissions.

In January Fiat UK Managing Director Andrew Humberstone made a pledge that he would be taking a hands on approach to bringing up the standard and reputation of the UK Fiat dealership network. Well, if a survey of around 32,000 UK motorists recently published by magazine Auto Express is anything to go by, he’s going to have his work cut out.

The Driver Power Dealer Survey canvassed the car buying public’s opinions on a range of criterea to paint a balanced picture of people’s overall dealership experience, and Fiat came a lowly 29 out of 30 overall.

This probably comes as perplexing, and certainly challenging news for new Fiat Group UK Sales Director Andrew Sproston, who took up his new position at the company this past Monday.

The broken down results show Fiat dealers as coming in the following positions:

• 20th for Value for money
• 29th for Standard of Workmanship
• 30th for Technical knowledge
• 30th for helpfulness and attitude
• 29th for Communication
• 30th Cleanliness and Atmosphere

It appears to us at NF500 that only the 20th place for “Value for money” saved Fiat’s dealerships from receiving the wooden spoon in this particular survey.

The Fiat 500, as the European wide “500% Fiat” marketing campaign reminds us all, is indented to be the embodiment of a completely fresh and revitalised Fiat. If these results really are anything to go by, along with some recent worrying reports from Fiat 500 owners and would-be owners on the new Fiat 500 forums, Fiat could do with taking a serious look at the dealership network and find out what they can do to improve their reputation “on the street”. If customers are being treated well by dealerships, word gets around, no matter how slick and polished your promotional work may be.

Credit to James on the forums for pointing this one out to us.

It’s been confirmed by Fiat’s Chief Technology Officer Harald J. Wester recently that Fiat will bring the new Fiat 500 to the US market. Not that we didn’t know this already.

There’s no deadline, and no details on how the company plan to unleash the brand Stateside, but it’s good to hear another source quoted (this time by Auto Motor und Sport magazine) as confirming Fiat’s ambitions to bring the Fiat 500 to American shores, where the MINI has already proved small cars can sell, if they’re marketed well and have the substance to back up their style.

We previously reported that, according to an interview in the Financial Times, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne made a vow to “replicate the Mini phenomenon in the US”, saying that the Fiat 500 will be released once the range has expanded further.

The Fiat 500 1.3 Multijet won its category at the What Diesel Car of the Year awards 2008, it has been announced today.

The overall winner was the Jaguar XF, but the Fiat 500 came up trumps in the “small car” category.

Voted on by a panel of ten judges from the motoring world, including Sue Baker, Russell Bray and Simon Hacker, the What Diesel Car Of The Year category winners are claimed to epitomise what is the very best of modern diesel engined motoring.

In announcing the winners the Fiat 500 received an honourable mention from What Diesel Editor, Ian Robertson, who commented;

This year has seen some tough opposition join the new car market, with the Fiat 500 and Jaguar XF leading the pack.

Fiat has shot a publicity film in a Moroccan salt lake on the border of Algeria, which shows vehicles from the Fiat range all racing together to form a giant moving Fiat 500 outline.

The tag line takes that annoying sporting and business phrase of “110%” a whole lot further by claiming that every Fiat is 500% Fiat, and is supposed to reflect how every car is significant to the image of the brand, of which the Fiat 500 is supposed to be the embodiment.

The commercial is already on YouTube, and presented below for your entertainment and delight (or something like that anyway).