Fiat 500 News

Fiat has pulled out all the stops to be part of a new music video for a track that has already become known as ‘the Fiat song’ from previous ads.All the Sexy People, sung by Arianna with help from Pitbull, looks set to be another Fiat video hit with appearances from Charlie Sheen – his second stint for the brand – a beach full of dancers and a couple of mermaids who lose their tops.The song itself has a retro flavour, and has previously been used for Fiat’s ‘Immigrant’ ad, which saw the little 500 model emerging from the ocean onto US beaches – a stunt reprised in All the Sexy People with a Fiat 500 jetski.A video takes us behind the scenes for the shoot on a Miami beach in Florida, with the expected crowd scenes of women dancing around in bikinis – and Charlie Sheen playing Charlie Sheen (or his former character from Two and a Half Men).Arianna drives a Fiat underwater,  a pod of Fiats skim the waves, Sheen circles two mermaids on his own private island and makes off with their tops, then turns up in a cryovac bed with a pair of lingerie models.Following on from the steamy ads featuring supermodel Catrinel Menghia, this is becoming signature marketing for the Italian car brand.

  

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. 

Essentially a Fiat 500 under the skin, the new Abarth 695 Maserati comes in a very limited edition of just 499. The high-performance supermini follows in the footsteps of the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari which sold here for $70,000. The 695 Maserati looks like it would be at home on the track. The engine pumps out a 132kW/250Nm from a 1.4 litre turbocharged unit. Acceleration is expected to be less than 7 seconds for the 0-100km sprint. The chassis has also been engineered to cope with this extra power. Front brakes and suspension setup have been upgraded as well as the ‘dual mode’ exhaust which Abarth is saying “delivers an inspiring sound above 3,000 rpm”. It will only be available in the Pontevecchio Bordeaux colour which Maserati also uses in their GT cars. The electronically controlled soft top is made of grey fabric. On the inside it gets beige leather upholstery, while the dashboard and gearbox trim have matt finish carbon lining with the 695 logo. Buyers will however get a carbon fibre kick plate with customised Abarth 695 Maserati Edition graphics, and a plate with the car’s series number from 1 to 499. In the UK it retails around £32,000 and that’s a lot of money for a small car – especially when it’s bound to be more expensive if it hits Australia.  

It is the first Fiat in Australia to offer the combination of Fiat's innovative Blue&Me Telematics system with Tom Tom's cutting edge SatNav technology to produce the ideal solution for the Australian market. Fiat cars equipped with the Microsoft based Blue&Me Nav system come with a small socket on the top of the dashboard. Into this plugs a dedicated arm which holds a portable Tom Tom SatNav unit designed specifically for Blue&Me. In addition to sourcing its power from the car, it also links to the Blue&Me system so that it can be voice activated or operated from the buttons on the steering wheel. Route instructions come through the car speakers, overriding audio programs or reducing volume during phone calls. It even knows when the driver is given a low fuel warning and will guide the driver to the nearest petrol station. The TomTom unit can be removed from the car and used as a free standing satnav unit or used in another vehicle.

But the 62-year-old Sicilian-born semi-retired school principal says his parents drove an FJ Holden and when he went to buy his first car salesmen tried to sell him something else. He immigrated to Australia at the age of 10 in 1957 and grew up in an Italian environment in the wine growing region of Stanthorpe."But Italians never drove Italian cars," he says. "They drove local cars, mainly Valiants because of all the chrome and the big fins. They wanted to be seen; to be noticed."For Impellizzeri, it was love at first sight when he clapped eyes on a brand-new 1969 Fiat 8590 Coupe. "It was red and sporty. It was different and I fell in love," he says. "Everyone was trying to sell me a Mini or a Torana but this was different." He paid $2350 and kept it three years."The baby came along and it got too small, so I traded it in for a second-hand 1969 125 sedan," he says. "At the time I appreciated the engineering in Fiats. They were way ahead of their time. They had four and five-speed gearboxes, four-wheel discs and belt-driven twin overhead cams. You couldn't get these things even as an option on anything else."He joined the Fiat Car Club of Australia in 1970 and attended several motorkhanas in Dubbo, driving the 850 down on Saturday, competing on Sunday, celebrating Sunday night and driving home on Monday. "We had a heap of fun in it."He kept the coupe five years and traded up to a 1974 132 GLS for $3000. He still owns it and drives it every day. "It's survived the test of time," he says. "It's so underrated. It's got 700,000km on it and you wouldn't keep a car that long if it broke down all the time."Around this time, he also bought his first Fiat restoration project, a 1950 Topolino (little mouse) 500C for which he paid just $50. "It was being used as a chook pen but the car was complete," he says. "The tyres were flat and it had grass grown all around it, but we pulled it out, took it home, cleaned and washed it, replaced the plugs, got the water out of one cylinder, put a battery in it and away it went. And it's still going."He has restored it twice and is considering another, more complete, restoration. "The first restoration was when I was young so it wasn't stripped properly in the first place and it was done on a budget." The car was deregistered in 1978 and got a more thorough restoration in 1984. In 1990, he paid $5500 for a left-hand-drive 1971 124BS Spider Sport which had been imported from the US. "It was pathetic," he says. "The engine was falling out of it because the cross member had come loose. But there wasn't a skerrick of rust on it."Impellizzeri admits that rust was a problem with most Italian cars. "They say they were treated, but if they were it wasn't worth talking about," he says. "Some say the fault was cheap Russian steel. Either way the cars we got here were all rusted. I always take off the door and interior trim and treat them with my own concoction of Killrust and fisholene. At first it smells but that's short lived. You can always spray a bit of your wife's perfume on it."Impellizzeri has spent about $15,000 bringing the Spider back to concours standard over about eight years. "You can hop in it and drive it anywhere," he says. "But the Topolino was never made for 100km/h, so I don't drive it on the open road as it struggles to keep up."His next project is a 1950s Fiat 1400 cabrio which he bought at auction in Adelaide for an undisclosed sum. "They were never sold in Australia. Only seven were imported and only two remain," he says. "When I found out how rare it was, I became interested."When he begins restoration, most of the parts will probably be found somewhere in his shed which is packed to the rafters with everything a Fiat owner would ever need. There are boxes of engine gaskets, nuts and bolts, locks and latches, horn buttons, alternator brushes, window regulators, even windscreens. "You name it, it's here," he says.So much so that even garages contact him for help and parts. Around the back of the shed are several 131 and 124 wrecks used for parts. His son, Danny, also owns some Fiats, including a 124 that he races with his father as head mechanic. The pair hope to run it in the Cootha Classic hillclimb at Mt Coot-tha on May 28-29. The event features more than 250 cars and about 50 motorcycles from the 1920s to today in timed sprints around a 1450m track up and down Sir Samuel Griffith Drive with seven corners and chicanes. Racing starts at 8.30am. Entry is $20 a day, $15 for concession, $30 for a two-day pass and $5 for parking in the J.C. Slaughter Falls carpark.

It's the topless cutie that Fiat Australia is hoping will give its stagnating 500 a swift kick in the class.  Deliveries of the soft-top Fiat 500C began last week and with more than 100 customer orders in the wings Fiat Australia is hoping the renewed interest in the re-born Fifties icon will help arrest a slide that saw the car's sales tumble from 584 in 2008 to just 342 last year.Over the same period class competitors like the Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Getz increased sales while other light passenger rivals like the Honda Jazz, Mazda 2 and Smart held their ground significantly better.  "When you are selling a car like this it is very important that there is something fresh and new (on a regular basis)," Fiat Australia spokesman Edward Rowe says."Unfortunately for us, while Fiat has recognised this on a global basis and there has been something fresh and new for the 500 every year (since the retro model was launched in Europe in 2007) we have missed out on one of those steps ... the Abarth version."As luck would have it the cars have come out of order for us. We are still hoping to have the Abarth later this year. It is definitely not off the future planning menu."While the Abarth model may yet make it to Australia, Rowe wouldn't comment on suggestions that the next stage of Fiat's global plans to keep the 500 fresh and exciting is a wagon version which could make its public debut at the Paris Motor Show in October and pay tribute to the tiny 500 Giardiniera wagon from the early 1960s.In a bid to re-ignite interest in the 500 Fiat Australia set pricing for the 500C ($28,990 manual and $30,990 DuaLogic automatic) last year and started taking orders at the same time."We started forward selling it last year because we knew the numbers were going to be limited and we wanted to make sure the first cars that arrived were going to be the colours and trims that customers wanted," Rowe says. "Those orders are already well into three figures and we will probably be able to get two or three hundred this year."The 500C has the same 74kW engine featured in the 3-door hatch version coupled to either the five-speed manual or five-speed DuaLogic automatic. The electric soft-top is a dual stage affair with the cloth roof folding back between the fixed rails to be either partially or totally open.Seven airbags are standard, including a driver's kneebag, along with anti-lock brakes and electronic brakeforce distribution. Electronic stability program and traction control along with a hill hold function are also standard."The Fiat 500C has to be the car to be seen in this summer," says Andrei Zaitzev, General Manager of Fiat in Australia. "But the 500C is much more than a stylish body. It shares the same technology as the 500 and that means it is as economical as it is cute, it has a five star EuroNCAP safety rating."Like the 500, the 500C is as clever as it is beautiful and fun to drive."  Rowe also downplayed suggestions that Fiat's distributorship arrangements in Australia currently held by Ateco Automotive, importers of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Citroen and Great Wall could be up for reassessment following the Fiat and Chrysler amalgamation. That joint venture is aimed giving Fiat greater distribution reach within the United States while Chrysler will win through access to Fiat's small car platforms."It is not an issue of any sort," Rowe says. "Nothing is going to change here. Neville (Ateco owner Neville Crichton) has the contract to import Fiat to Australia ... that's that."  Rowe says that news reports out of the United States that Chrysler Australia will import the Lancia Delta into Australia has fired the latest round of speculation."I think that where people have become confused is that they do not understand that it is not uncommon around the world for the same car to be sold as a different brand, even within the same market. Lancia, as a brand, will not come back to Australia ... rather the plan will likely be for a Lancia product to come to Australia as a Chrysler-badged product."Fiat 500CPrice: $28,990 (manual), $30,990 (automatic)Engine: 1.4L/4-cylinder 74kW/131NmTransmission: 5-speed manual, 5-speed DuaLogic automated manualEconomy: 6.3l/100km combined (supplied)Performance: 0-100km/h 10.5 seconds, top speed 182km/h

I realised this while finalising the judging of this year's Carsguide Car of the Year contest, which you can read about in today's liftout.  Yes, there are still bad things in cars. I think the damping of the Maserati Quattroporte is awful, cannot stand the seats in the Fiat 500, find a lot of Japanese headlamps lacklustre, and worry about the long-term quality of Alfa Romeo.But these are little things compared to some of the howlers I have driven in the past.  The Fiat Argento was supposed to be an executive express but it was so bad that it was canned after the first press preview drive. The evaluation cars were dropped onto executives and the plan died.The Holden Piazza was, for me, nasty and dangerous. I only drove it once and was glad when the over-powered Gemini coupe was binned.  On the Holden front, the Gemini diesel was also awful. Ahead of its time in efficiency but behind the times in every other way.And I could go on. And on.  But the cars of 2009 are brilliant. It truly is a golden age in motoring.  We had a lot of trouble culling the COTY field to just 10 cars and the finalists are so, so close in so many ways. Great value, too.Things will only get better in coming years and I am expecting better efficiency, better performance, more safety and so much more before the day when environmental pressures and a lack of oil turns cars into transport modules and nothing more.We should all enjoy things today because it, truly, has never been better.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

The Frankfurt Motor Show literally roared to life this morning when a classic BMW 507 roadster ran laps of a custom-built oval track inside the German carmaker's $30 million stand.

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.