The new Fiat 500 city car has officially been named 2008 Car of the Year, a statement from Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) said on Monday.
News that the retro compact had won the prestigious prize was leaked last Thursday.
The car was chosen by a panel of 58 leading European motoring journalists representing 22 countries.
The 500 was reported to have been a hands-down winner over its six rivals thanks to its look, safety features, the quality of its interior and variety of its models and engines.
The new Fiat was on the shortlists of 57 out of the 58 journalists on the jury and 33 of them placed it at the top.
In the end, the 500 collected 385 votes, compared to 325 votes for the runner-up Mazda 2 and 202 votes for the Ford Mondeo, which placed third.
Points were awarded for design, comfort, safety, economy, handling, performance, functionality, respect for the environment and price
Also competing against the 500 were the Kia Cee'd, the Mercedes Class C, the Nissan Qashqai and the Peugeot 308.
This was only the second time that the Car of the Year award went to a compact, Segment A car. The first time was in 2004 when the Fiat Panda took the prize.
The Car of the Year award was created in 1964 and this is the 12th time that the Fiat group has won. It picked up nine awards with a Fiat marque car, twice with an Alfa Romeo and once with a Lancia.
The 500, a re-edition of the classic car which was produced from 1957 to 1977, made its official debut in Turin on July 4.
The car has a retro-look to recall the classic 500, named after its original engine size, following the example of the new Volkswagen 'Beetle' and the BMW 'Mini'.
During its presentation to the press, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said ''the 500 is not just a car, it represents the new Fiat, a solid company projected towards the future. It's our travelling manifesto''.
Marchionne orchestrated Fiat's comeback from near bankruptcy at the start of the decade to posting 12 quarters of positive results in a row.
The Car of the Year organising committee is made up of the managing editors from seven prominent European automotive magazines: Auto (Italy), Autocar (UK), Autopista (Spain), Autovisie (Netherlands), L'Automobile Magazine (France), Stern (Germany) and Vi Bilaegare (Sweden).
This year's edition is being run by Stern and the award presentation will be in Berlin on January 28, 2008.
Fiat developed the platform for the 500 with Ford Motor Company of the United States, which will use it for its revamped 'Ka' model.
Although the original 500 was a small-engined economy car, the new car has a starting price of 12,000 euros and its priciest model, which has a 1400cc engine, runs about 14,000 euros or more.
Buyers have the option of three different motors: 1200cc 4-cylinder petrol, a 1400cc Starjet 4-cylinder 16 valves petrol and a 1300cc Multijet 4-cylinder diesel.
There are currently three versions of the city car: Pop, Sport and Lounge.
The 12 FGA vehicles which have won the Car of the Year award are the Fiat 124 (1967), Fiat 128 (1970), Fiat 127 (1972), Lancia Delta (1980), Fiat Uno (1984), Fiat Tipo (1989), Fiat Punto (1995), Fiat Bravo/Brava (1996), Alfa 156 (1998), Alfa 147 (2001), Fiat Panda (2004) and Fiat 500 (2008)
