NF500 / 2008 / October

The ever-popular Fiat 500 lapped up the limelight once again at Diesel’s xXx worldwide 30th birthday celebrations, earlier this month.

A special-edition Fiat 500 by DIESEL version of the in-demand supermini was displayed outside the London party, at matter nightclub in the O2 Arena in Docklands, where more than 3,000 lucky ticket holders partied late into the night.

The limited edition 500 by DIESEL model – just 10,000 will be produced – was created by Fiat Style Centre designers and the DIESEL design team headed by Lars Schwartz. The idea was to create an ‘Urban Survival Vehicle’, perfect for town traffic, yet expressing the personality of its alternative young brand lovers.

Based on a 500 Sport version, the 500 by DIESEL comes in metallic shades of green, black or brown. The exterior features 16-inch alloy wheels with the DIESEL logo, brake callipers painted yellow (an option only on the 100 bhp 1.4 version), unique side trim with the wording DIESEL and a special door mirror faring.

Inside, the car features special upholstery in denim fabric. The label logo also appears on the instrument panel and gear knob, while a special pouch reminiscent of the fifth pocket on DIESEL jeans appears on the side of the front seats.

Jade Jagger, Paris Hilton, Kelly Osbourne and Roisin Murphy helped celebrate the brand’s 30th anniversary, while 30 bands performed a one off ‘Creative Experiment’ in which 30 artists took part in a musical relay, including producer Mark Ronson, The View, Patrick Wolf and Friendly Fires.

A one-off car, signed by all 30 artists who performed at the event, is up for grabs as part of the Diesel xXx charity auction, with all proceeds going to the Livity Trust.

Eighteen other major cities hosted similar high profile parties on 11 October, including Paris, New York, Milan, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Tokyo.

The 500 by DIESEL will be available with all three Euro 5-ready power units in the Fiat range – the 69 bhp 1.2 unit, 75 bhp 1.3 Multijet unit with DPF, and 100 bhp 1.4 16v unit. Prices start at £11,400.

“The DIESEL party was a great success and proved a perfect opportunity to show the new 500 by DIESEL” says Elena Bernardelli, marketing director, Fiat UK. “The Fiat 500 is a perfect fit for DIESEL and we are pleased to have this fantastic association with them.”

To learn more about the on-line auction, which starts tomorrow (23 October), visit: www.dieselxxxauction.com

To learn more about the 500 by DIESEL visit: www.fiat.co.uk/500bydiesel

Two Fiat models appear in the top 10 best cars for fuel economy of the new Which? Complete Guide to Greener Driving, proving yet again the company’s green credentials and commitment to helping the environment.

The Guide, which reviews the top 100 most economical cars and offers practical advice on greener driving, reveals that three cars break the 60 miles per gallon barrier – one of which is the Fiat Panda 1.3 MultiJet, which returns 60.1mpg.

Still in the top 10 – in ninth place – comes the sought-after new Fiat 500 1.3 MultiJet, which has been winning thousands of new fans since its launch this year, mainly for its stylish good looks, excellent running costs and value for money. It manages 56.5mpg, according to Which? analysts, who carry out their own stringent, independent tests on the vehicles.

“It’s a win-win situation,” says Richard Headland, editor of the Guide. “Choosing a greener car will reduce your carbon tyreprint, cost less in road tax, and you’ll save money every time you fill up your car.”

“Fiat is well known for the fuel economy and low carbon ‘footprint’ of its cars,” says Andrew Humberstone, managing director, Fiat Group Automobiles UK. “We are working to continue to improve on our record and it is excellent news when independent organisations, such as Which? recognise the efforts we are making.”

The Fiat Panda range starts at £7,005 on the road for the 1.1 Active and the 500 range starts at £8,100 for the 1.2 Pop.

President of the AA, Edmund King will be leading an AA team competing in the 2008 MPG Marathon, behind the wheel of an eco:Drive equipped 1.3 multijet diesel Fiat 500.

The 2008 MPG Marathon will take entrants from Bristol to Macclesfield and back again, but the winner of this event will not be first past the post, rather the teams who record the highest overall miles per gallon, and the greatest increase in MPG over the manufacturers’ stated consumption figures.

To help him prepare, Edmund has completed the AA’s Eco-driver Training that provides specific on-road tuition to help improve fuel efficiency and driver safety.

Read more about the AAs motivation for entering the MPG Marathon on the AA website.

Fiat is celebrating its best monthly result in the UK for four years – since September 2004 – after posting 9818 sales to give the Fiat brand a 3.0 per cent UK market share.

The news comes as UK sales fell for the fifth month in a row. Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) data shows that the September market closed 21.2 per cent down on last year, while Fiat’s monthly retail sales figure (56.5 per cent up on the same period last year) boosted its market share by 15.4 per cent to 3.0 per cent.

Much of the success is attributed to the continuing appeal of the new Fiat 500, which was launched in the UK earlier this year. A total of 3624 examples of the award-winning supermini were sold in September alone.

The Fiat brand is on the move,

says Andrew Humberstone, managing director, Fiat Group Automobiles UK.

This fantastic result is testament not only to our eco-friendly cars and the overall desirability of the Fiat range, but to the number of key dealer partners who exceeded their sales targets by more than 150 per cent.

We expect the fourth quarter to be challenging but, that said, we believe we are positioned to face these challenges. There has been a shift in consumer buying behaviour, and people are choosing to downsize into the small car sector – an area which is clearly one of our primary strengths.

For those who know what this is and just want the software, the download is on the official Fiat website. Full ecoDrive press release follows…

Managing Director of Fiat Automobiles, Lorenzo Sistino, presented “ecoDrive” to the international press; it is an innovative system that allows drivers to gain better insight into how their driving style influences their consumption and emission of pollutants.

“ecoDrive” is a software application that can be installed on your computer and is available from today on www.fiat.com/ecodrive (there is also a video dedicated to the product on this site).

As you are driving your car, “ecoDrive” processes in detail all the information relating to the vehicle’s efficiency and your driving characteristics. Thanks to the versatile Blue&Me’s USB port, all the data is transmitted via a normal USB key and can, therefore, be “read” on a computer at a later date.

In fact, the user can carefully analyse consumption and emission on each journey they make (ecoIndex) and receive advise on how to drive in order to create less impact on the environment. In fact, thanks to a series of progressive tutorials, you can improve your score: just think that drivers who are more conscious of their “eco-responsible” driving can expect to improve their driving style by 15%, and that means: reduce CO2 emissions by 15% and see an annual saving in fuel of between 120 and 200 Euro. Furthermore, “ecoVille” has been created specifically for Fiat’s “ecoDrivers”, an on-line community where everyone can share interests and their commitment to an eco-responsible way of driving by accessing the site www.fiat.com/ecodrive where there is also a video dedicated to the “ecoDrive” system.

Fiat 500 and Grande Punto are the first Fiat Group vehicles to make use of “ecoDrive” and, as of today, will be available for downloading from the site and installed at no extra cost. In 2009, the system will be extended to the rest of the range equipped with Blue&Me. Lastly, thanks to a contribution from users, the “ecoDrive” application will be updated to make it even more useful.

“ecoDrive” is a Blue&Me evolution, the platform developed by the Fiat Group Automobiles in conjunction with Microsoft that has already earned a great deal of recognition and reached a quota of 500,000 pieces installed in the various Group’s models in about the last two years.

Getting bored of limited and special edition Fiat 500s? Starting to wonder if the only “limited edition” Fiat 500s left will soon be the “standard” cars that customers actually spec for themselves? Well, love them or hate them, Fiat of Japan have joined the party with the launch of a limited edition Fiat 500 of their own.

The above photo shows you the Fiat 500 Lounge SS. Apart from being clad in yellow, inside and out, and limited to a run of only 100 vehicles, we can’t quite see what makes this particular special edition at all “special”. It’s a 1.4 petrol model, with leather seats, electric roof and mirrors.

On sale in Japan from 11th October, for around the equivalent of £15,000.

Via: New Launches

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As a result of visitor feedback we have ditched our criminally under-used Fiat 500 shopping page in favour of a more useful, Fiat 500 Directory.

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