The latest limited and special edition of the Fiat 500 is designed exclusively for the German market.

It’s called the 500 ID. The 500 obviously is the car’s name and also refers to the fact that it’s limited to 500 units, and the ID is a hint at this car’s special feature, which is an avatar chosen by the buyer attached to the car’s B-pillar. Yea, I know!

As for the car itself, it comes in a number of two-tone paint jobs including Bossa Nova White / Pasodoble Red, Bossa Nova White / Azzurro Volare Blue, and Minimal Grey / Electroclash gray. Interior colors are matched accordingly, with the White/red 500 ID getting ivory / red seats, and the other two ivory / blue and ivory / gray.

Fiat 500 ID is only available with the 1.2-liter 69 bhp 1.2 8V engine and comes with standard equipments including air conditioning, 15-inch alloy wheels, leather steering wheel, chrome kit, Bluetooth-controlled hands-free with Blue & Me features with navigation and USB.

The car is priced from 13,500 Euros.

The redesigned Fiat Panda offers many new features, but it retains its amazingly low price tag of just £8900.

That’s incredible value for money given the car that you receive. Even a fully loaded 1.3 MultiJet 2 turbodiesel model with air conditioning, roof rails, Start&Stop and alloy won’t cost more than £12,250.

It’s not like they’ve skimped on equipments for the base Pop model to keep the price low. It comes with electric windows, central locking, Dualdrive electric power steering, four airbags and body colour bumpers. The extensive options list includes ESP, roof rails and black pastel paint.

Moving up the range you get remote central locking, air conditioning, roof rails and a higher grade audio system with the Easy trim level, while Lounge additionally receives heated electric mirrors, 15-inch alloy wheels, front fog lamps, body coloured mirrors and door handles, and side mouldings.

As for the engines, the new Panda launches with a choice of three frugal, ultra-low emissions, Euro 5-specification engines: 69bhp 1.2-litre petrol, 85bhp 0.9-litre TwinAir, and 75bhp 1.3-litre MultiJet 2 turbodiesel.

2012 Fiat Panda UK price list:

Fiat unveiled a new All-Wheel-Drive version of its Freemont people carrier, and unlike the car on which it’s based, it’s actually rather interesting.

The normal Freemont is a rebadged Dodge Journey. This AWD version though is made by Fiat themselves, and because it’s jacked up and rides on bigger wheels, it actually looks like a SUV. This is how Europeans improve an American design!

The Freemont AWD features an on-demand four-wheel-drive system, which has an electronic control unit which uses sensors to detect the grip of the four wheels and decides when to transmit traction to the rear. So it is only AWD when you need it to be, and remains a FWD car when you don’t. That makes the whole system more efficient.

The rest of the car is pretty much the same as Freemont MPV. It still has seven seats and tons of space inside. Engine-wise it can be equipped with the 170 HP 2.0 MultiJet 2 with variable geometry and the powerful Chrysler Group Pentastar 3.6 litre engines. Both engines are combined with a new six-speed automatic transmission.

Fiat released the first official images of the new elongated version of the 500, the Fiat 500L, ahead of its official debut at Geneva Motor Show in March.

Now, it’s not like they just took a 500, stretched it a bit, and put four doors on it. It is practically a whole new car. The reason it’s called a 500 is, probably, because marketing men insisted it would help with the sales.It is in fact an spiritual successor to the original Multipla.

Fiat says the 500L offers MPV passenger space combined with the feel of a small SUV on the road and the restrained dimensions and efficiency of a B segment car. Not sure about the SUV feel bit, but in terms of space and practicality, it seems to be properly good car. It features a 5-seater single-volume structure which is 414 cm long, 178 cm wide and 166 cm high.

Unlike other compact MPVs in this segment though, the 500L is also a tad stylish and trendy. Scheduled to go on sale in the last quarter of 2012, the car will launch with two petrol engines (TwinAir and 1.4-litre) and a turbodiesel engine (1.3 MultiJet II).

Fiat UK revealed pricing of the 2012MY Punto, and like most cars in this segment, it starts at just under 10 grand.

That’s £9,990 OTR for the Pop 1.2 8-valve, to be precise. You want a fully loaded Lounge 1.3 MultiJet version, that’ll be £15,600 OTR.

The top of the range model, however, gets a fair amount of kit, including automatic dual zone climate control, leather steering wheel, front fog lamps, seven airbags, cruise control, ambient interior lighting and electric sunroof as standard.

Standard equipment in the entry-level Pop model includes remote central locking, electric front windows, driver and passenger airbags, window airbags, radio/CD/MP3 player, electric power steering and height-adjustable driver seat.

The Punto launches with six low emissions Euro 5 engine, but chances are you are after the two-cylinder TwinAir version. For that you are going to have to wait till April. In the mean time there’s two new options, an 85hp version of the MultiJet diesel engine and the acclaimed Engine of the Year 85hp TwinAir. The full list will comprise: 1.2 8-valve petrol (69hp), 1.4 8-valve petrol (77hp), 1.4 16-valve MultiAir petrol (105hp and 135hp), TwinAir 0.9-litre petrol (85hp) and 1.3 16-valve MultiJet diesel (75hp and 85hp).

Pricelist:

Fiat has been getting some tips from its American partners Chrysler on how to make influential TV spots. You can clearly see the “Imported From Detroit” theme in this ad for the new Panda called “Manifesto.” Of course, it uses quintessentially Italian things to deliver the message, stuff like pasta and espresso. And it’s all relevant, what with Italy being in the middle of a massive financial crisis. Watch the ad after the jump.

Chrysler’s, and now Fiat’s, performance arm Mopar announced new facilities in Shanghai and Dubai to support their growing business in those markets.

The 16,000 sq. meter parts distribution center in China will integrate China domestic and regional operations, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective supply chain and improved service levels.  It will distribute more than 35,000 part numbers to more than 130 dealer locations in China and more than 20 third-party distributors and joint-venture partners throughout Asia Pacific.

The Dubai facility, an 18,000 sq. meter parts distribution center located in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone will cover the whole Middle East and Africa operations with an inventory of more than 30,000 part numbers. In 2012, seven Mopar Express Lanes will open in United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi), Qatar (Doha), Saudi Arabia (Dammam and Jeddah), Iraq (Baghdad) and Kuwait, joining the current five in Saudi Arabia.

Chrysler and Mopar’s business must be going on well in those regions, for them to invest in those massive operations which will be the backbone for their further expansion. The facilities will support Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Fiat brands.

“With the opening of these two facilities, we are expanding our parts distribution network in order to fully support the growth taking place in these markets,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “As our vehicle brands continue to grow internationally, Mopar will continue to look for opportunities to effectively service our dealers and distributors, and ultimately our customers.”

There aren’t many female car reviewers around, so it’s quite refreshing when one comes along and looks at the car from a woman’s point of view. Here Autocar’s Vicky Parrot drives the 2012 Fiat Panda, the Twinair version, to see if the new model has the qualities that made the previous Pandas so popular. Since 1980 they have sold 6.4million units of this small car. Italians are very good at making great small cars actually.

Here’s the official footage of the new generation Fiat Panda, one of Italy’s finest small cars. The new model comes with a revised face and a new back-end, and a range of refined engines including the 85 HP 0.9 TwinAir Turbo and 65 HP 0.9 Aspirated TwinAir, both equipped with the Start&Stop system, 69 HP 1.2 Fire petrol and the 75 HP 1.3 Multijet II diesel. Late in 2012 a bifuel 80 HP 0.9 TwinAir Turbo Natural Power (petrol/methane) and 69 HP 1.2 EasyPower (petrol/LPG) will be added to the range.

Fiat continues Abarth 500′s publicity campaign in the U.S. with a nostalgic video homage to the founder of the brand, Karl Abarth. This beast of a man was born under the sign of scorpion and picked that as the logo of his company. Today Abarth has one of the coolest logos in the business. This spirit of the scorpion also shows in the cars they make. They are not as vicious as they used to be, but hey. This guy makes me proud to be a Scorpio!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fiat’s partnership with Jennifer Lopez continues as the 500 makes an onstage appearance during J-Lo’s live performance of Papi at American Music Awards.

However, J-Lo doesn’t seem to be taking it very seriously, as news emerge that it wasn’t actually Jennifer behind the wheel of the car in the “My World” commercial, but a body double. Lopez was then film behind the role in L.A. and they kinda mixed it into one. So all those deep words she said about inspiration and roots and stuff were… you know what! Oh, just figured she was “acting”.

Earlier this year the Fiat brand announced its collaboration with Jennifer Lopez, which included placement of the new Fiat 500C in her new music video, Papi as well as in a 30-second trailer of the video. The singer also appears in two additional commercials for the brand broadcast in the USA, My World and Elegance, which feature the Fiat 500C and the Fiat 500byGucci models.

Abarth’ booth at the Bologna Motor Show this year won’t be just full of 500s. There is also this magnificent Punto Scorpione edition.

The Scorpione is obviously an homage to Abarth’s logo which is a scorpion. So it has a black theme all over and inside the car with nice styling details such as gloss black wheels, yellow brake calipers, or the interior stitching and lettering on the sport seats.

The car also comes with “Abarth Nitro” winter kit whose main feature is a “Nitro Powered by Abarth” snowboard! As always these stuff come in a cool Abarth box which you can keep as a memento.

No details yet on performance of the car, but it certainly is the best looking Punto ever made.

This year at Bologna Motor Show Fiat’s in house tuner will introduce the new Abarth 595 in two “turismo” and “competizione” versions.

The 595 pays homage to the historic 595 model that Karl Abarth presented in 1963 as an offshoot of the Fiat 500. It comes with 160 hp and as mentioned two different editions.

The turismo 595 is a kinda trendy, lifestyley version of the car with a look at me paint job and lavishly luxurious interior. The competizione is, as its name suggests, a more naughty version designed, according to Abarth, for true customisation fans, who love to experience the thrill of sporty driving every day.

The turismo has a two-tone paint job which is also applied to the interior and is more focused on the Fiat 500′s character as a fashion accessory. We like the competizione better, since it looks cooler and is more focused on being a performance every day car. The two cars on display “race” along a platform coated with a special resin that evokes the atmosphere of a road.

The latter also has a much nicer interior with sport seats and manual gearbox.

Abarth will also reveal the 695 “Assetto Corse”, the new small super-sports car designed for racing on the track, at the show. It will join the 500 “Assetto Corse” in the single-make trophies.

Tribe Agency Fiat 500 Alpha Bravo is getting ready for 2011 SEMa show, and here’s a rendering to show you how it looks like.

This is a uniquely tuned Fiat 500 slammed on 6015-T6 forged wheels with Falken tires. The massively flared arches and the body kit give the car a cool-boy character, which is boosted by the two-tone black and army green finish.

The army paint job is in accordance with the name they’ve given this car: Alpha Bravo. Those into military stuff know they are ground call signs for patrols on the field, usually assault forces. Very cool!

Other features of the car include Air Lift suspension, and a roof rack which reflects on the car’s go-anywhere ability. We won’t be surprised if it comes with M-16s strapped to its door panels and a grenade launcher.

This is a different and pretty awesome tuning kit. We just wish they’d picked a more manly car than Fiat 500.

Fatlace via Autoguide

Fiat 500 passes the IIHS crash tests with flying colors and starts its quest of conquering America.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is the equivalent of EuroNCAP. The Fiat has already been tested in Europe, but now it gets the American certification of safety as well.

It’s been awarded as a Top Safety Pick, which is something like the five-star rating of the NCAP and means the car is pretty safe. That means Fiat 500 has scored ‘good’ in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests.

Standard safety features on the 500 include driver and front passenger advanced multi-stage air bags, driver’s knee air bag, full-length side-curtain air bags and standard seat-mounted side pelvic-thorax air bags for enhanced passenger protection, as well as reactive head restraints, and high strength steel door beams.

]]> http://www.motorward.com/2011/10/fiat-500-named-top-safety-pick-by-iihs/feed/ 0 http://www.motorward.com/2011/09/fiat-500-pink-ribbon-limited-edition/ http://www.motorward.com/2011/09/fiat-500-pink-ribbon-limited-edition/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:03:15 +0000 Arman Barari http://www.motorward.com/?p=26360

Fiat is doing its part to fight cancer by releasing the 500 Pink Ribbon limited edition in America.

Limited to 250 units, this version of the 500 is priced at $22,500 (including $500 destination), and with every unit sold, Fiat will donate $1000 to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), with a minimum contribution of $50,000.

As for the unique features, the 500 Pink Ribbon comes with Argento (silver) and Bianco (white) exterior paint colors and features a signature dark pink bodyside stripe with “500” logo and an accenting “ribbon” in light pink.

Inside the cabin it has unique pink accents contrasting the Nero (black) interior. Highlighting this limited-edition model are Nero leather front and rear seats with pink accent stitching on the perimeter and signature “500” logo embroidered on the front seatbacks and a pink ribbon embroidered on the floor mats.

It is based on the Lounge model and comes with all the equipments, plus Nero leather steering wheel with pink hand stitching and body-color instrument panel bezel.

Chrysler as you know has hooked up with Detroit’s most famous boys, Eminem and Dr. Dre, to promote their new products. Their partner Fiat wanted a piece of that action too, but there’s no way in hell Eminem put his name on a 500! So they went to a more appropriate celeb for the job, Jennifer Lopez. Good choice we say, JLo’s curves complement those of the Fiat.

Following the success of the Fiat 500 by Gucci which scored 300 pre-orders on the web, they launched the cabrio version as well.

And it’s now available to order the same way, with prices starting at £17,800, or around $30,000 USD. That is a lot of money, especially for a Fiat 500, but this thing is not so much of a car, as a Gucci handbag! Now it makes sense to spend that kinda money on it, doesn’t it.

The car comes in two colors only, white with glitter and brushed chrome-plated elements, and black with glitter and shiny chrome-plated accents.  For both, the soft top is black with the characteristic green-red-green Gucci web pattern printed lengthwise. Other unique styling features include 16” retro alloy wheels, hub caps with double G logo in matching body colour, and Gucci signatures in italics are displayed on the tailgate and door pillars.

Fiat 500CbyGucci will of course come complete with comprehensive standard equipment: automatic climate control system, seven airbags (front, side, window and knee), Blue&Me system integrated with rear parking sensors, car radio with CD-MP3 player and leather steering wheel with radio controls.

Besides the new Panda, Fiat will also reveal a mildly facelifted version of the Punto a the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show.

Apart from the not so important new exterior colours and the seat upholsteries, 2012 Fiat Punto gets new powertrains as well. And yes, like every other car Fiat Group make these days, it gets the 85 HP 0.9 TwinAir turbo.

Good news is, this is a brilliant little engine that in combination with a 6-speed gearbox, is very fun to drive while offering low CO2 emissions of just 98 g/km. You want more economy, then you have to get the 85 HP 1.3 16V Multijet diesel.

Fitted with the IRS (Injection rate shaping) as well as Intelligent Alternator and Intelligent Flow, this unit emits just 90 g/km of CO2 emissions, while offering more torque (200 Nm compared to 140 Nm) than the TwinAir. But it’s not just as fun to drive.

The 2012 range comprises 3 trim levels (Pop, Easy and Lounge). The new style innovations of the Punto 2012 are completed with a new design of the 15″ alloy rims and new three metallic bodywork colours: Turquoise, Ruby Red and Graphite Grey. The TwinAir models also get more equipments and features such as grey and black “Sportex” fabric and a grey embroidered TwinAir logo on the front headrests. The advanced infotainment system (Blue&Me) can also be specified for the new Punto.

The 2012 version of James May’s favorite car, Fiat Panda has been unveiled ahead of its official IAA debut.

Those familiar with the old Panda immediately recognize the new model has a more rounded front-end with puppy dog eyes and a wide mouth. It looks like a bit of simpleton, as if it’s baffled by something!

apart form the looks, the new Panda is as great in practicality and functionality as its predecessor, if not better. It is still fairly compact with a length of 365 centimetres, a width of 164 and a height of 155, offers decent interior space for its size with lots of cubbyholes, pockets and storage spaces, and is now better made than ever. After all Fiat has been making small cars for decades. They know a thing or two about it.

2012 Fiat Panda will be offered iwth the firm’s award-winning two-cylinder engines: the 85 HP 0.9 TwinAir Turbo and 65 HP 0.9 Aspirated TwinAir, both equipped with the Start&Stop system as standard. The other petrol unit is the 69 HP 1.2 Fire.  As for the diesels you get the advanced 75 HP 1.3 Multijet II with Start&Stop.

Later on fiat will also offer the bifuel 80 HP 0.9 TwinAir Turbo Natural Power (petrol/methane) and 69 HP 1.2 EasyPower (petrol/LPG) for the Panda as well. Gear Shift Indicator (GSI) is another fuel saving feature for the new car.

The automatic Dualogic robotised transmission, in combination with the TwinAir engine, will become available after the launch. In addition, during the first year of sales, an innovative braking system will also become available which, at speeds below 30km/h, is able to detect obstacles at close range and stop automatically.

Fiat says the enw Panda can fit in every lifestyle, and here’s the proof for it: At its launch, the new model will be available with front-wheel drive – and later the Panda 4×4 will make its debut – and will offer a range made up of: 4 engines, 3 trim levels, 10 body colours, 4 interiors, 2 hub caps and 2 14? and 15? alloy wheels for a total of over 600 combinations.

It is also very well equipped and feature-rich with stuff like brand new “Blue&Me-TomTom LIVE” and the large transparent electric “Skydome” sun roof to the Hi-Fi system with CD/MP3 player and Dualdrive electric power steering with “City” function as standard.

To ensure the safety of the driver and passengers, the new model has 4 airbags (front and window), ABS complete with BAS (Brake Assist System), front seat belts with pretensioners and load limiter, Isofix attachments for child seats, anti-whiplash front headrests, rear headrests and headlamps with Daytime Running Lights, all supplied as standard.

Pricing and availability will be announced later. Production of the 2012 Fiat Panda beings in late 2011.