NF500 / stylish design

Last week Fiat UK launched their new website and online car configurator.

Produced in partnership with AKQA, Fiat claim their new website is revolutionising the online automotive experience.

Epitomising the ‘Fiat digital’ spirit, www.fiat.co.uk features a unique interactive design and online world firsts. Developed to dramatically transform the Fiat buying and ownership experience, the site aims to makes it easier to choose, configure and finance a new Fiat. At the same time, it opens up a new channel of communication between Fiat and its customers.

Fiat’s digital platform will be an instrumental part of the Italian car manufacturer’s objective to increase car sales in the UK to 100,000 units by 2010, once its full range, including the new Fiat 500, is in place. The launch of the new website coincided with the introduction of the company’s new mid-size five door hatchback, the new Fiat Bravo.

The new Fiat website takes its inspiration from the brand’s heritage of design and innovation. At the heart of the site is a dramatic 3D showroom that pays homage to Fiat’s world-famous Lingotto building – renowned by architects and industrialists as a feat of remarkable engineering. The showroom displays the company’s range of models available in the UK to emphasise that stylish design is a quality that is shared by them all.

Built entirely for broadband, the site features full-screen 360° images of the interiors and exteriors of the cars, combined with a tailored voiceover to give potential customers an audio-visual tour of every model.

In an automotive online first, www.fiat.co.uk gives visitors real-time contact with Fiat Customer Services. For the first time ever, customers can book and confirm a test drive, request maps for directions and model brochures, in real-time. The test drive booking is then qualified by a real-life customer services representative, rather than by just a confirmation email.

Managing Director of Fiat Group Automobiles UK Ltd, Giulio Salomone, says:

The launch of the innovative fiat.co.uk represents the first step in our Fiat digital journey. Our strategy is to embrace the latest technology to create an environment that is captivating, innovative, and customer-focused. Every aspect of the website has been designed to make the experience a pleasure for the user and to immerse them in the Fiat brand.

Ajaz Ahmed, Chairman of AKQA says:

Fiat’s spirit of pioneering innovation and fun enabled us to take a fresh approach to many of the challenges that often compromise automotive sites. The result is a fun digital experience that combines a number of world firsts, is visually stunning, user friendly, and unlike anything else.

Not much there for the Fiat 500 yet, but the tease (shown above) at least reveals the UK launch date of the new baby Fiat.