Fiat 500 History
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The 2011 Fiat 500 mini-car is a three-door hatchback that mixes Italian style with a fun-to-drive personality and comes with good gas mileage as a bonus. The new 500 was introduced in Europe as a 2008 model. It quickly won rave reviews for its interior and exterior style, high level of standard features, and solid, high-quality assembly. Highlighting the international nature of the auto business, while Fiat 500 models sold in Europe are built in Poland, for the U.S. market they’ll be built in Mexico—and sold at selected Chrysler dealers.
Like the Mini Cooper it competes with, the Fiat 500 harkens back to a beloved national automotive icon from the Sixties. In this case, it’s the Fiat 500 that was built from 1957 to 1975. And like the Mini Cooper, the new model is larger, faster, far better equipped, and immeasurably safer. Another potential competitor: the Audi A1, also a three-door mini-car, that was announced early this year, although it may not be sold in the U.S. Pricing hasn’t been announced but it will likely start around $16,000 and top out several thousand dollars higher. The Fiat 500 is not, in other words, a competitor for econobox models like the Hyundai Accent or Toyota Yaris; it’s a lifestyle choice, a style accessory that also happens to be fun to drive and easy to park in tight urban areas.
The Fiat 500 will be sold in three, maybe four, versions in the U.S. The base model is the three-door hatchback, and the 500c cabriolet is the same car fitted with a cloth roll-back roof, giving open-air driving without the loss of structural rigidity that comes from a top that folds down completely. The Fiat 500 Abarth is the hot-hatch version, competing with the Mini Cooper S, courtesy of a turbocharged engine that puts out more than 130 horsepower, stiffer suspension, and 16-inch sport wheels. (There’s also an even hotter version in Europe, the SS, but it’s not clear if that one will be sold here.) Finally, a "Giardinetta" three-door wagon is said to be on the way a couple of years later. Fiat has also shown an all-electric version, the 500e, at various auto shows, but no production plans have been announced.
All 500 models use a 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine that Fiat will also build in North America, to be shared later on with new models from Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. Fuel economy figures should be around 28 or 30 mpg city, 35 to 38 mpg highway—similar, again, to those for the Mini Cooper. The first 2011 Fiat 500 models will arrive at dealers at the end of 2010.
