Fiat 500 2014 News

Micro cars may be on the nose in Australia but no one seems to have told the makers.

Fiat announces track-bred Abarth 695 Biposto superhatch for Australia.Abarth's fastest and most extreme performance model to date is coming to Australia.First revealed at the Geneva motor show in March, the Abarth 695 Biposto is in essence the road-going equivalent of the 695 Assetto Corse racer driven at the Bathurst 12 Hour in February by CarsGuide's own Joshua Dowling and Paul Gover.With a name that literally translates to two-seater, the 695 Biposto does gain an extra pew over the Dowling/Gover machines, but shuns the regular road Abarth four-seat layout in the name of weight reduction.The Biposto's tuned 1.4-litre turbocharged engine throws out 140kW and 250Nm – up from the 118kW/230Nm of the existing 595 models. The 0-100km/h time also drops from 7.4 seconds down to a claimed 5.9. This performance boost comes with a trade-off, as fuel consumption has jumped by 1.1L/100km to 6.5 combined over manual 595 models.While the idea of the hottest Abarth ever might have you chomping at the bit, a list price of $65,000 will quickly bring you back to reality.At this price, the Biposto is nearly double the price of the $33,500 595 Turismo and the $36,500 Competizione manual hardtops. It is however in the ballpark of Abarth's previous limited edition models, the $69,990 695 Tributo Ferrari from 2012 and 2013's $60,000 695 Edizione Maserati.An investment in the 695 Biposto does get you a performance car that oozes racing pedigree.In addition to a pretty serious cabin reinforcement structure behind the seats; Brembo brakes, Poggipolini rear roll bar, 18-inch OZ wheels, Akrapovic exhaust, BMC intercooler, Sabelt four-point seatbelts and Extreme Shoks suspension bring a high-performance motorsport flavour to the street-legal production car. The Biposto even has a data logger.You do get some more expected features of a road-going car as well with the Biposto having ABS and stability control.On the outside, the 695 Biposto an aluminium bonnet, fixed door windows with polycarbonate sliding openings, and lightweight 18-inch OZ wheels.Inside, the remaining seats are now carbon fibre with matching dash inserts, and front and rear panels. Titanium is also featured in the door handles, hub caps, wheel bolts and fuel cap.The 695 Biposto is being produced in limited numbers, and is available from Abarth dealers on a per order basis.

New trim, colours and instruments, along with drive-away pricing for Fiat’s baby 500.

Radar units are normally fitted to the front of luxury cars to maintain a safe distance with the traffic ahead when the cruise control is activated. But the boffins at German technology company Bosch came up with the idea to move the radar unit to the rear of race cars to improve safety in endurance races where the vehicles have vastly different speeds.The Fiat 500 Abarth -- the smallest and slowest car in the 50-car field at this Sunday’s Bathurst 12-Hour race -- will be equipped with a Bosch radar mounted on the hatchback that warns the driver of cars approaching from behind. A screen on the dash shows which direction the car is likely to be overtaken on, by flashing an arrow.It is only the second use in the world of the technology, which debuted in the LeMans 24 Hour race last year. The specially-built race-ready Fiat 500 Abarth has a top speed of about 220km/h on Conrod Straight, but the front-running Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis and Porsches are all capable of reaching over 300km/h and lap faster than a V8 Supercar.“With a closing speed of between 80 and 100km/h our drivers need all the help they can get,” said veteran motorsport manager Alan Heaphy, who has turned his expertise to the pint-sized Italian cars after years of managing teams in V8 Supercars, production cars and tarmac rally events.The two-car Fiat team has calculated that its cars will be lapped every five laps by the front-runners, which will average out to being overtaken every six seconds over the course of the race. Inside the cockpit, the team has also fitted an ultra-wide view mirror used in V8 Supercars.Leading drivers have welcomed the addition of the technology but many believe their faster cars will be so quick that the feisty Fiat will be overtaken before the driver even realises it.“The closing speeds at Bathurst are going to be phenomenal and, of course, the (Fiat) driver is going to be looking ahead at the racing line, not always looking at the mirror,” said Audi R8 driver Warren Luff, who is one of more than half-a-dozen race V8 Supercar drivers moonlighting at the event. “But of course anything to make the racing safer and give the driver as much warning as possible is a good thing.”IN THE THICK OF ITCarsguide’s Joshua Dowling and Paul Gover will have a driver’s view of this year’s Bathurst 12-Hour -- and what it’s like to be overtaken approximately 7000 times -- sharing driving duties in the Fiat 500 Abarth. Full report next week.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

Fiat has announced it has signed a deal to buy out the rest of Chrysler, paying US$3.65 billion ($4.09b) for the 41.46 per cent holding owned by the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association trust.Chrysler will make a separate payment of US$700m ($784m) to the VEBA trust, which is set up to cover health care benefits for retired UAW members.Fiat says the deal -- expected to finalise before the end of January -- means there would no longer be a need to raise extra capital with a public stock launch. A public launch was a move CEO Sergio Marchionne was keen to avoid, but which was threatened by the UAW last year after their dissatisfaction with the price Marchionne was offering at the time.“In the life of every major organization and its people, there are defining moments that go down in the history books,” Marchionne said in the official statement. “For Fiat and Chrysler, the agreement just reached with the VEBA is clearly one of those moments.”Since becoming CEO of Fiat 10 years ago, Marchionne has been keen on making the Italian brand a global giant with the acquisition of other stables. He said last year full ownership of Chrysler would make the joint brand the world's seventh largest.Fiat first bought into Chrysler in mid-2011, buying shares held by the United States Treasury as the Detroit brand floundered. However the tables turned with the recent European economic crisis, and in 2013 it was booming Chrysler sales that supported the Italian brand as it struggled to make sales in Europe.The operational joining of the two brands in Australia has seen a strong rise in sales for its cluster of brands over 2012, with Fiat up 598 per cent -- the little Fiat 500/Abarth itself up 331 per cent -- Alfa Romeo 156 per cent, Chrysler 134 per cent and Jeep 21 per cent. The only lagging brand is Dodge, down 22 per cent with a lack of product as models trail off.The local HQ declined to comment on the buyout deal but said they were pleased with the year's results so far."We are thrilled with the sales performance across the Fiat Chrysler stable this year," Fiat-Chrysler spokesperson Karla Leach said. "Our dealers have performed amazingly to smash nearly every sales record for the group in 2013.  Of note is the continued strength of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the massive growth of the much-loved Fiat 500, and the sassy Alfa Romeo Guilietta."This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Carmakers spend up big on the annual Super Bowl commercials, with a 30-second in-game spot costing $3.7m and even slots at the start and end of the game commanding premium prices. It's money well spent if they can attract attention – and turn it into sales. And a good ad can go far beyond the game day, turning viral and getting millions of views. Volkswagen's Darth Vader from the 2011 Super Bowl and the hot Adriana Lima commercial from the 2012 Super Bowl are just two of the stars that went on to become global successes.So which were the big contenders this year? Mercedes-Benz was early out of the gates with a teaser featuring swimsuit model Kate Upton 'washing a car slowly'. The shapely Ms Upton didn't actually get her own hands wet – except to blow a bit of foam around – and her role seems to be mainly distracting the footballers who are doing all the hard work. Merc followed up with what must have been a costly exercise for the CLA, with a pact offered by Willem Dafoe as Satan, and the Rolling Stones 'Sympathy for the Devil' as the soundtrack.Watch the Mercedes-Benz Kate Upton car wash adWatch the Mercedes-Benz Soul adWe reckon Coke filched ideas from two top Aussie movies. Their Coke Chase ad featured a gang of Mad Max baddies and a crew of showgirls in a pink Priscilla bus, vying with a Great Escape motorbike, a posse of cowboys and a camel-leading Arabian sheik – all in a race to a giant Coke bottle. The ad was the key creative in an online campaign that lets viewers vote to let three of the teams reach the bottle first – or delay the other teams by watching linked 'sabotage' videos. Watch the Coke Chase adThe early teaser for Toyota's 'Wish' spot featured The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco – it looked like fun and was backed up with the 'Careful What You Wish For' full ad, which gained much from Cuoco's perky personality as Penny.Watch the Toyota Wish teaser ad Watch the Toyota RAV4 Wish adKia's Space Babies teaser shows some fantastic CGI, and an even more fantastic answer to kids asking where they come from. The ad works well nearly right to the slightly lame ending, but it's doubtful it stacks up as something to rival their viral stars, the Soul Hamsters.Watch the Kia Space Baby adBut the Kia ad that had everybody talking -- including motoring journos -- was 'Hotbots', where a robotic motor show stand attendant (we don't call them booth babes here) gets revenge on a grubby guy.Watch the Kia HotBot adHyundai went all-out for the Super Bowl with several spots. The 'Team' one for Santa Fe was an early favourite, with some great performances from child actors -- and a very scary mum.Watch the Hyundai Santa Fe Team adThe 'Playdate' took you on an extreme day out of having fun and upsetting security guards, bikies and police, with the Flaming Lips providing the soundtrack.Watch the Hyundai Playdate adThe Genesis was talked up in 'Excited' with Hyundai touting its advantages over high end, and particularly German, luxury cars.Watch the Hyundai Genesis Excited adAnd then there was the aversion therapy of 'Stuck', showing some of the worst vehicles you can be stuck behind in traffic -- unless you have a Hyundai Sonata to overtake them, of course.Watch the Hyundai Sonata Stuck adVolkswagen ditched the Star Wars theme, and instead drafted reggae legend Jimmy Cliff for their 'Get Happy' teaser – and then got into a little hot water with the full ad, which shows Caucasian men taking off Jamaican accents. Perhaps it's still a Star Wars link ... the movie franchise faced similar accusations of racial stereotyping with the Jamaican-sounding Jar Jar Binks.Watch the VW Get Happy adWatch the VW Jimmy Cliff adVW then followed up with a low-key but effective 'bad dog' ad, showing what to do when the dog eats your car keys.Watch the VW Bad Dog adAudi tapped into every adolescent boy's fantasy with a lad heading off to prom night alone being tossed the keys to his dad's Audi S6, kissing the football jock's girlfriend and generally making it a night to remember.Watch the Audi Prom adFiat has launched a trio of ads for the 500L, all aimed at emphasising how much larger it is than the garden variety 500. Date, Sisters and Wedding are all flavoured with Italian dressing and – while not as scorching at the Catrinel Menghia Abarth ads – still manage to be cheeky.Watch the Fiat 500L Date adWatch the Fiat 500L Sisters adWatch the Fiat 500L Wedding adThe Chrysler group turned on the patriotism for their slightly saccharine ode to a farmer and Whole Again ads.Watch the Dodge Ram Farmer adWatch the Jeep  Whole again adAnd even snack food Doritos has got in on the car act, with one of the finalists for its Crash the Super Bowl ad playoff featuring the perfect solution to a back seat dog problem.Watch the Doritos Road Chip ad 

Mumbrella reports the Advertising Standards Board has declared the ad too sexual. As opposed to, say, every ice cream commercial ever made.And those Kia commercials that should be outlawed on the grounds of being insanely annoying. 

The award, according to the press blurb, is intended to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundariesOddly, in this case the winner is an echo of established boundaries, a retro-active rethink of the iconic model dating back to 1957, which has been a roaring success with buyers since its revival last year.And it seems also a success with the judges, who foamed with mouthfuls of superlatives.The car “does a brilliant job of capturing the visual appeal of the original version while meeting modern design and engineering standards” … “pushes the emotional hot buttons of several generations of people who might never have driven one of the early models” … “is genuine, straightforward, without gimmicks”.And knowing that the Fiat shuns gimmickry, you’ll be delighted to hear that a special Barbie version is doing the rounds.It’s bright pink of course. And not just any bright pink, but finished in a paint that looks like nail polish.Inside, the upholstery is a matching pink, trimmed with silver Alcantara, while the floor mats have been woven with natural silk.The vanity mirror is lit up with LED bulbs and there is a stock of lip glosses in the glove compartment.But all that by itself would be a bit subdued for the plastic fashionista, so a couple of chandeliers worth of crystals have been splattered over the hubcaps, window framing and interior trim, with a few on the ounted aerial to match.The one-off Fiat 500 Barbie was designed and produced as a joint project between Fiat’s Centro Stile (style centre) and the doll’s handler, toymaker Mattel.The car is currently on tour as part of the celebrations for the 50th birthday of the doll with the impossibly-shaped body ... although there are admittedly similar-looking 50-year-old women on the Gold Coast, many of them with an even higher plastic content.Apparently the car is being driven from time to time by a live `Ken’ doll, who is chauffering a live `Barbie’ around in it.And that bit of news had us completely flummoxed, because that means it must have an engine where we imagined there would be only a smooth sweep of plastic.After all, if the little pink Fiat was a true part of Barbie’s world there’s no way it could be anatomically correct. 

While it may spend its life on racetracks, the tiny Fiat Abarth 500 Assetto Corse will be a wild little thing. It is powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged 1.4-litre engine that puts out 147kW of power and 300Nm of torque. It will have a six-speed gearbox and full racing trim that includes 17-inch ultralight racing wheels, an aerodynamic rear spoiler and racing front grille, complete with twin air-intakes. Although gaining a full racing roll-cage for safety, the baby Fiat race car will be 180kg lighter than the road car. They will be available in any colour you want, as long as it is pastel grey with red stripes. Fiat released the first pictures of the new car this week. Fiat Australia spokesman Edward Rowe says the car will be raced in a series of one-marque national championships throughout Europe from next year. Rowe says the power output of the baby racer is twice that of the Fiat 500 cars used in the celebrity challenge at this year's Australian Grand Prix. Fiat's involvement in personalising the car and the series extends to the Italian marque providing full racing outfits for each driver. An appearance Down Under is unlikely as there is not a natural category for it to race in. Fiat has no plans to introduce a one-make championship in Australia as BMW has done with the Mini Challenge for Mini Cooper racing cars that started this year. But Rowe says the company has received expressions of interest from drivers in Australia to race versions of the sporty Fiat 500 Abarth road car due here next year. They would most likely contest production car championship events, including the Bathurst 12 Hour race. Fiat Abarth racing cars were a common sight on European racetracks and rallies in the 1960s. The most successful model was the 850TC. In Australia, two Fiat 600s (the larger version of the 500) contested the first Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island in 1960, the forerunner of the Bathurst 1000.   Snapshot Fiat 500 Abarth Assetto Corse Price: N/A Engine: 1.4L/4-cylinder turbo 147kW/300Nm Transmission: 6-speed manual  

The most frugal version of Fiat's baby 500 model, using a small diesel, consumes less than Japan's best hybrids, which can cost about $10,000 more. A flood of imported new-generation diesel models has arrived, delivering fuel consumption of better than five litres per 100km — equivalent to 56mpg. Most are able to drive about 1000km without visiting a service station. However, these bowser-beaters are small cars with premium prices. The new champ is the 500 diesel version, rated at 4.2 litres per 100km in official testing, and costing $25,990. Petrol 500s, which are slightly thirstier, start from about $23,000. The most popular hybrids, using an electric motor teamed with a petrol engine, are the Toyota Prius (4.4 litres/100km, from $37,400) and the Honda Civic Hybrid (4.6 litres/100km, $32,990). The first batch of diesel 500s for Queensland buyers is expected to arrive soon, but petrol versions are already here. New owner Kitty Mackay, of New Farm in inner Brisbane, has just bought a Fiat 500 from a dealer. “With me, it's a nostalgia thing,” she said. “I had a Fiat 500 when I was going to uni in the '70s. Also, I'm doing my little bit for the environment.” She said it c to fill the tank, which was still half-full after five days of heavy use. “It's fun, it's cute and it fits all the shopping in the boot, no trouble at all,” she said. “It's a really handy little car for everything and a perfect, perfect, perfect town car.” The 1.4 litre 500 Sport has a list price of $26,990, but Ms Mackay's came with extras including red leather upholstery, red stripes, sunroof and tinted windows, making it $35,000 on-road. “That's a lot to pay for a little car, but it's worth it,” she said. Meanwhile, the Queensland Government, which has had hybrid cars on its fleet since getting six of the first Toyota Prius hatchbacks in 2001, is adding Honda Civic Hybrids. The first 10 Hondas have just been delivered, with another 40 on the way this year to join QFleet's stock of 177 hybrids. Premier Anna Bligh said: “The cars we buy are important as they not only end up in the government fleet but then in the community.”   Fuel misers Fiat 500 diesel 4.2L/100km Citroen C3 diesel 4.4L/100km Fiat Punto diesel 4.4L/100km Toyota Prius 4.4L/100km Audi A3 1.9 diesel 4.5L/100km Citroen C4 diesel 4.5L/100km Honda Civic Hybrid 4.6L/100km