NF500 / pastiche

Talking to Fiat UKs PR Director Peter Newton last week we couldn’t help but notice one line that popped up in conversation more than once was the insistence that the new Fiat 500 is “not some retro pastiche”, but rather a proper car, with a grown up attitude and bursting with new ideas, modern technology and state of the art safety systems.

During our discussion it certainly became clear that comparisons drawn to the new MINI were viewed as far more favourable than any made with the VW Beetle, with the MINI seen as a successful reinvention of an historic brand and the Beetle frankly not so.

But the only reason these three cars are thrown together so keenly by members of the media and public alike is indeed their retro nature, and once again we come to the point being made to us that the 500 is a car that can and will sell on it’s own merits. Sure the appearance may offer a little throw back to a halcyon age of motoring, but the message was clear, Fiat want the 500 to be seen as a thoroughly modern car in it’s own right, and to not rest in the shadow of its revolutionary namesake of the past.