NF500 / turin

Just an almost last minute reminder for you all to not miss Welcome 500 Live event taking place on the official Fiat 500 Website this evening and Tomorrow morning.

The event in Fiat’s own words:

After more than a year of anticipation, the wait is almost over. The new 500 will be unveiled on July 4^th 2007. And for the first time, you will be able to take part in the launch with a live worldwide multi-media broadcast. So there’s no excuse for missing it!

You can follow the “Welcome 500” launch show on July 4^th, at 10.45 p.m. (GMT +1), live on Italian TV channel Canale 5, or via a special web streaming on the 500 wants you web site.

If you are in Turin, there will be maxi-screens installed in the city centre and in the Murazzi area where the show takes place. In addition, on Thursday July 5^th from 9.00 to 10.30 a.m. (GMT+1), you will be able to follow the press conference live on the web.

The only downside is the streaming service requires Windows Media Player, so not so easy for Mac users (which strikes us as a little odd, considering that Fiat want to be like Apple, and the 500 like the iPod).

This press release from Fiat dates back to March 2007. We’re repeating it Today, ahead of the 500 Live event taking place this evening, to provide a reminder of Fiat’s goals and ambitions for their new Bambina. The press release was accompanied by the first official photographs of the new Fiat 500, which you can view in the NF500 Flickr Group.

On July 4, 1957, in Turin, Fiat presented the Nuova Fiat 500, a real icon of our times, with which Fiat concluded a revival that had begun straight after the Second World War. On July 4, 2007, exactly 50 years later, again in Turin, Fiat will present the new Fiat 500 which will be marketed immediately after the launch. And the new car will conclude an equally important cycle of revival for Fiat Automobiles SpA.

Developed by the Fiat Style Centre and manufactured in the plant in Tychy (Poland), the new 500 is a 3-door model with very compact measurements: it is 355 cm long, 165 cm wide, 149 cm tall and has a wheelbase of 230 cm. The car is extremely entertaining to drive, due to its three engines: a 75 bhp 1.3 16v Multijet turbodiesel unit and two petrol engines, the 69 bhp 1.2 8v and the 100 bhp 1.4 16v, all of which are available with five or six speed mechanical gearboxes.

The model confirms Fiat Automobiles SpA’s undisputed leadership in this category - a result of its extraordinary heritage of technical, design and human experience accumulated in over a century - and it takes a quality leap forward in terms of comfort and safety, technology and equipment for this segment. The new 500 is the most up-to-date solution for the motorist who ‘enjoys’ his car in complete freedom, appreciates it for day-to-day use, but also wishes to drive a car that is entertaining and practical, environmentally-friendly and accessible, but also appealing and full of fun.