19-11-2007 Fiat 500 officially announced as Car of the Year 2008

The international jury presiding over the Car of the Year award, made up of 58 specialist journalists from 22 countries, has elected the Fiat 500 Car of the Year 2008 with 385 votes, ahead of the Mazda 2 (325 Votes) and the Ford Mondeo (202).

In addition to winning the Car of the Year 2008 award outright, the super

- compact Fiat distinguished itself by obtaining votes from most members of the Jury: 57 out of 58 included it in their short-list, and 33 made it top in their personal rankings.

This is the second time—the first was the Fiat Panda in 2004—that an A-segment model has won the most prestigious award in the world car industry. This extraordinary record brings total Fiat Group Automobiles wins to twelve.

Launched on 4th July this year, the new Fiat 500 immediately aroused huge interest and very favourable comments made by more than 7,000 people from 63 countries who homed in on Turin for it’s debut.

Critical acclaim was immediately confirmed by intense customer interest. More than 105,000 orders were taken in just four months in only two countries (Italy and France), while interest continues to grow in the rest of Europe.

The Fiat 500 is the manifesto of ‘new Fiat’, a model that is in all respects the physical demomstration of the company’s new approach, the renowned strategies of the brand, a different way of interpreting the car. That is why the Fiat 500 has set new benchmarks in it’s segment. For example this is the first time that a car barely 3.55 meters long has been awarded a 5-star crash safety rating by Euro NCAP, and this is the first time that a car in it’s segment has seven airbags fitted as standard.

In addition, this is the first time that a model has been launched with the entire range of power units (1.2, 1.3 Multijet and 1.4 100BHP), built to respect emissions limits set by Euro 5, and all this more then two years in advance of the legislative deadline. This is also the first time that a ‘small’ car like the Fiat 500 has been able to boast such a broad range, which is made possible by choosing from: 4 trim levels, 3 engines and 12 colours (among these are 6 vintage colours that evoke memories of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and the 3 layer white, a sophisticated paint process that up to now has only been adopted on supercars). Customers can also choose from 15 interiors including the prestigious Cordura and Frau leather, nine types of road wheel, and 19 sticker treatments, for a total of more than 500,000 variations. In addition, 100 original accessories have been designed for the Fiat 500-among which the most surprising are an electric aroma diffuser and colour coded key fobs-along with the most advanced infotelematic systems.

Car of the year award started in 1964. To enter, new cars must go on sale in at least five different European markets in the course of the year. Judgements are expressed on the following parameters: design, comfort, safety, economic operation, driveability, performance, practicality, respect for the environment, price and value for money. A first selection is made from all the new models marketed in the course of the year (this year 33 cars were involved) and seven are shortlisted. Each member of the jury has 25 points to distribute among the seven cars, with a maximum of 10 points going to their first choice. The award ceremony will take place in Berlin on 28 January 2008.