TURIN, Italy, July 4, 2007 -- After years of decline Fiat’s fortunes are rising once again.  This venerable symbol of prosperity in Post War Italy finally had a string of hits that started to turn its withering fortunes around when it introduced the Panda and Punto.

Now, exactly 50 years after the launch of the first edition of its New 500 model, which became an icon of Italian motoring and of that entire period of history, Fiat is building on its recent successes and accelerating into the future with a completely new 500.

The shape of the 500 is part of our collective memory. Some industrial objects that were the fruit of Italian creativeness in the period after the war, like the 500 or the Vespa, cannot be judged purely in aesthetic terms, nor do they represent just a good engineering exercise in which form serves a function. Instead, they are powerful catalysts, revolutionary in their design and in the concept that defines common reference points and benchmarks. When this happens, the result is an icon that is an essential part of industrial history. The 500 is one of them.

This story has taken place twice. The first time happened when a very large number of owners, fans and enthusiasts promoted the car’s image as a good, reliable and economical vehicle, which became an expression of a part of their lives, the best part, evoking a carefree spirit and lack of worry. The 500 is linked to these memories, to strong friendships and first loves, it evokes images of a positive past which many would like to revive.

Dante Giacosa’s launched the 500 on July 4, 1957, as part of the cycle of rebirth after the devastation of war.  This was the capstone to a period of radical renewal of the company’s product range that opened the way for a cycle of successes in the coming decades.  It was an optimistic period that’s considered one of the brightest in Fiat’s one hundred year history. To many, the parallel with the new 500 is clear; it too follows the cycle of extraordinary rebirth of recent years, but with the stylistic and technological features that represent the sign that this  process of revival is really starting to gain momentum.   Fiat’s legion of fans hope that the 500 will demonstrate that “history starts again.”

While the new 500 shares several design cues inspired by the original it strives to be more than a simple, nostalgic reinterpretation. Fiat’s goal was to design a car that ‘looks like’ a 500, and one that ‘could be’ the 500 again.

It’s styling evokes all the emotions and memories that made the original an ‘icon’ eternal, but it offers innovations that the company hopes will forge links with a new generation.

To make sure they got the iconic feel just right, during the development of the model and of the marketing plan Fiat sought the participation of over 3,000,000 enthusiasts who submitted their ideas for the project, through the www.500wantsyou.com website.

This was a new approach to developing a relationship between manufacturer and customer, that Fiat hoped would bring it closer to the expectations of the public. ‘The 500, the car of the people, by the people’: their slogan came out of the philosophy.

The result is a car with a full range of engines (69 bhp 1.2. 75 bhp 1.3 Multijet with DPF and 100 bhp 1.4 16v) designed to meet the emissions limits set by Euro 5 standards, more than two years before the legislative deadline.

This compact car (3.55 metres) has been built to achieve a 5-star rating in the EuroNCAP impact tests, and it is ready for the 6-star test if and when a new rating is introduced.

Fiat’s customers were clear that they wanted a safe product, not only for its structural sturdiness, but also because of the choices made in the construction of the range of outfits and services.  The 500 is equipped with 7 airbags as standard equipment (it is the only compact to offer a kneebag), and an advanced ESP available with all engines (standard on the 100 bhp 1.4 16v), both of which are unique for this segment.

This ‘small’ car offers a wide array of content: 4 specification levels, 3 engines at the launch, 12 colours, including 6 vintage colors that will bring the 1950s and 1960s to mind, plus tri-coat white produced by a process that is usually only adopted on luxury cars, 15 types of upholstery including luxurious Cordura and Frau Leather, 9 types of wheel rims, and 19 types of stickers, making a total of more than 500,000 variants (549,936 to be precise); the most interesting include the electric fragrance diffuser, with a choice of 3 different fragrances, and colored key cases, an approach similar to that in the mobile phone market that lets you match the color of the key to that of the bodywork, or to select another pattern of your own choosing.

Fiat is offering all of these options as a way to meet the tastes of its potential customers from the most minimalist to the most eccentric. This concept extended to the various electronic technologies that can be used in the passenger compartment (Plug In).

A second generation Blue&Me is available, and an iPod can be easily incorporated thanks to the socket and the battery charger. A new portable navigator was developed specially for the 500 with Magneti Marelli, which is set directly on the dashboard and connects to other vehicle functions.

The concept of customization is not limited to the product, but extends to the reapair services, forms of payment and even complete 24-hour roadside service. When it is time for periodical maintenance, the car will be picked up from the customer’s home, and his mobility will be guaranteed by the reimbursement of any taxi fares.  

The company is embracing these differences in order to emphasize that the 500 is the car for everyone: “the car of the people, made by the people, for the people.”   They hope that by extension, the 500 spreads a halo onto the ‘New Fiat’ and that this ‘New Fiat’ will be embraced by everyone.  

This is an ambitious and daunting goal to place on any product but the re-birth of the 500 is said to represent a declaration of how Fiat intends to interpret its future in the market and in society. It says it wants to be a model of conscious consumption. For a company that was once derided as standing for “Fix it again Tony,” and made its mark on society as the symbol of gargantuan factories that built every conceivable consumer product in mind numbing quantities the statement that “quality, emotions, and uniqueness rather than mass-production,” is the future makes the introduction of The 500 a significant car to watch.

When you combine these aspirations with a car that seems to smile at the future you hope that they’re right.

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