NF500 / 500 Media

Max Power have once again set out to prove that in the automotive world the old adage “money can’t buy you taste” holds just as true as ever with their “kick-ass” (there words, not ours) June edition Fiat 500 cover car.

The rather outrageous body kit shown above is supplied by Parotech, and the Fiat 500 in question also features suspension, wheel, performance and interior modifications, which come to a cool £19,500 spent on tarting up this particular vehicle. Yep, that’s a Fiat 500 with more than double its sale value spent on aftermarket goodies (or gaudiness, depending on your point of view).

Max Power are driving the car from Paris to Donnington (apparently more exciting than the Paris-Dakar?!), and you can read all about their excellent adventure in the magazine.

…and it’s going to be a soft top too!

That’s according to a report published today in Just-Auto.com.

Roberto Giolito, styling director for the Fiat brand, reportedly informed a just-auto reporter that the convertible variant of the new Fiat 500 was definitely going to be produced and that the design would be simple, affordable and “aimed at bringing maximum customer enjoyment”.

The Fiat 500 Convertible will sport a traditional fabric roof, as opposed to joining the hordes of overly fussy and in our opinion downright ugly “coupe convertibles” which seem to have flooded the convertible market over the past few years.

Fiat are confident that progresses in the technology of fabric roofs means a space-saving fabric folding roof can offer excellent insulation against the elements and exterior noise. We certainly welcome this decision and cant wait to see what the designers come up with.

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.

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).

Fiat are developing petrol and diesel hybrid-drive systems for small cars and vans that, if all goes to plan, could be production-ready by 2011.

The hybrid powertrains will be able to propel a vehicle for short distances using only electric power, helping to reduce both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions during stop-start driving conditions.

We are still in the research phase and, if everything proceeds as expected, we could begin production within three years,

Alfredo Altavilla, CEO of Fiat Powertrain Technologies, told Automotive News Europe.

For minicars and small cars, Fiat is working on a hybrid system based on their new two-cylinder, 900cc petrol engine that mates an electric motor/generator to a dual-clutch transmission. Fiat claim the small-car system has the potential to bring a car’s CO2 emissions to below 90g/km.

For another example of what Fiat could do with the 500 in the name of greener motoring, check out the Fiat 500 Aria Concept.

Auto Express, among others, are running some mock-ups produced by future vehicle imagineer extraordinaire Poblete.

Not much we can add really, as it’s pure speculation, but see what their scribe managed to twin with the images on the Auto Express website.

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