So it looks like its less than a year until this is released in Europe ... designed by the same person that designed the new MINI ...

it looks F U N!

a pretty cool website for it as well ... although don't expect to see pics of the car on it

www.fiat500.com

 

omg - that is great! i love fiat 500s!

 

thats friggin awesome. if they sold that car here id totally buy it. Just cause its a Fiat 500.

 

that car looks awesome! any hope it may make it to the shores of the US? probably not...

ever seen those orginal fiat 500's with VW air-cooled engines in them, that drag race? they are nuts!

 

Oh my - that is pretty cute! My first rag top was a Fiat Spyder...I loved that car!!!

Donna

 

oh id KILL for an old Fiat 500 here...wonder what it would take to get one of those... thad make a killer autocross car, LOL

 

Fix It Again, Tony!
Mama mia, que bella ragazza!

 

Nice car indeed. I was never a big fan of the old "Topolinos" but this car , at least the looks, seem well in tune with the classic version.

However, my caveat with the Fiat 500, as well as the VW New Beetle, is that aside from the retro-looks, the new and old versions share nothing in common in terms of powertrain layout.

If these suckers would come with a rear mounted engine and RWD they would be a very palatable proposition, but as I see it, this is nothing more than a nicely dressed up Fiat Punto (The New Beetle rides on the old Golf Platform).

Fiat ain't coming to North America anytime soon. Quality of mass produced Italian automobiles is still below that of German and American cars.

Still great design excercise by Frank Stephenson. I bet that if he had stayed with MINI, many of the design details we see in the new R56 MINI, would have not seen the light of day.

 

Also, ever since the success of the MINI Cooper in global markets, other manufacturers want to jump in the bandwagon wanting to "revive" these classic small European class, while others are introducing new models of their own. Witness the Volvo C30, or the Audi A1.

It is a matter of time before Citroen releases a new version of their frumpy looking 2CV and Renault re-does the 4 5 door hatchback.

 

Well Fiat or a portion thereof was just purchased by GM, and with the popularity of micro-cars like the Smart combined with fuel prices we may see this little gem wheezing up a hill near you very soon. Anyone know any details like engine size, layout, HP, etc, etc? How cool would it be if it actually was rear engine/rear drive like the original with a tuner's dream of a powerplant? Pocket 911 anyone?

 

Here is a page where you can see an orginal Fiat 500 with an Air-cooled VW engine in it, drag racing.

Go air-cooled!!!

http://www.volksworld.com/content/do...20bang2002.MOV

 

 

Sadly this car will most likely never come here for two reasons:
No one would buy it, its just like the Aveo and how many do you see of those driving around
Fiat will never come back to america. Citroen I believe is coming over in 2008 but they are having problems getting up to American standards.
Thats just my two cents
Medic

 

They're going to have a much harder time meeting American tastes. Quirky French cars have never done well in the US.