The Fiat 500 is expected to sell like hot cakes once it is released next year in March.

If you want to slide behind the wheel of a new Fiat 500 get to your local dealer quickly. Fiat dealers are taking orders for the car ahead of its launch in Australia next March. The Italian Motor Company in Melbourne, says up to six people a day are inquiring about the car.

The diminutive Italian hatch is a smash hit in its home country and some parts of Europe and is sold out until the end of next year. It has already lifted production from 65,000 units this year to 140,000 a year by the end of next year.

Right-hand drive versions are also expected to be highly sought after, according to Fiat spokesman, Edward Rowe. Rowe says the 500 is expected to become a cult car. It will not be cheap though, with the price tag starting at about $20,000 and ranging to just under $30,000.

“We will have a very fixed number of cars we can sell next year,” he says. “If you want a 500 and you want to be somewhere near the top of the queue go and visit your dealer.”

As with the Mini, the 500 will be available with a host of trim and paint combinations, numbering more than 500,000.

In Europe it is available in four models, Naked, Pop, Sport and Lounge, with 12 colours, nine different wheel trims, seven of which are alloy and a choice of 15-inch or 16-inch tyres.

With an overall length of just 3550mm, the 500 is 149mm shorter than a Mini Cooper.

The 500 is 1630mm wide and 1490mm tall with a wheelbase of 2300mm.

It is expected to be available with a choice of two engines, a 75kW/131Nm 1.4-litre petrol and 56kW/145Nm 1.3-litre JTD turbo-diesel. Like the Mini Cooper, the front-wheel-drive 500, which echoes the original rear-engined Cinquecento, is available in Europe with a host of different paint and trim packages to individualise each car.

Although the sub Mini-size car is small, it has already managed a five-star EuroNCAP crash test rate. European models come with up to seven airbags, anti-lock brakes, Electronic Stability Control and a hill holder.

However, these are unlikely to be available in the numbers as in Europe. Fiat is also working on a 500 Abarth version, which should give Mini's Cooper S a run for its money. The 500 Abarth is tipped to come with a 1.9-litre JTD turbo-diesel, the same engine that is available in 88kW and 96kW versions on the Punto.

A month before the 500 goes on sale Fiat will launch its VW Golf competitor, the Ritmo hatch.

Both 1.4-litre TJET and 1.9-litre turbo-diesel versions are expected to be sold, both with sports equipment packages. Ritmo Abarth versions are also planned but not before the 111kW and possibly a 134kW Punto Abarth versions arrive, known as the SS in Europe.

The Punto Abarth arrive around mid-2008.

Ritmo, has just gone on sale in New Zealand, where it is called the Bravo.

Ateco Automotive, which imports Fiat into Australia, could not use the Bravo name as it is already taken by Mazda for its ute.