The Fiat cinquecento (500) is one of Italy's most well recognised icons - right up there with a plate full of pasta, a Vespa and a Ferrari. Today, this icon that has remained untouched since 1975 is back in the form of the Nuovo Fiat 500 - Fiat's latest achievement in a series of breakthroughs that are redefining this once ailing Italian giant.
Last night, to great fanfare the Nuova cinquecento was officially presented, exactly 70 years after the 4th of July 1957 when the now, old cinquecento was first presented.
A long history
This new model will have a tough act to follow. The original 500 (which is the follow-up model from the Fiat Topolino, arguably the first small car).
The first 500 was modelled on the Beetle Volkswagen. Because of its cute design, small factor and competitive pricing the car became hugely popular throughout Europe. It has been used to great effect in numerous films, including the very recent Disney/Pixars "Cars" film and was meant to be used in the "Italian Job" but the Mini was just released at the time and was chosen instead.
A bright future
The new cinquecento will try to repeat the huge success by combining the loved look of the old with a mixture of new technologies. It is placed in direct competition to the Mini, and was actually designed by the same person, Frank Stephenson, who headed the team that redesigned the Mini.
The new cinquecento wants to allow its owners to place their own stamp on the car and make their own fashion statement with lots of options for configurability such as paintings of flowers or a hot-rodder's flames. The price will be between €12000 and €15000.
For Fiat, a victory on this front would be the next in a series of challenges. Marchionne, was brought in by the Agnelli family at one of the company's worst moment, has set an ambitious slate of new car launches. He said there was little risk now of backsliding.
"I want Fiat to become the Apple of automobiles. And the 500 will be our iPod," Marchionne said in an interview published Wednesday. With passenger car sales in Europe surged 17% last year, making it the fastest-growing carmaker in the region that statement has some results to back it up.
The launch has certainly been successful, with 25000 cars already ordered and Fiat hoping to sell 50000 by the end of the year. With a focus on reduced emissions and features such as automatic switching off of the engine at stop-lights the new cinquecento seems to have managed to marry the charm of the old with the benefits of the new.
