Fiat 500 wins Euro COTY
'Retro Bambino' beats Mazda2 and Mondeo to the punchA panel of 58 European journalists has announced the Fiat 500 as the recipient of the 2008 European 'Car of the Year' award.
It's the second time that Fiat has won the gong in the past few years, with the Panda winning in 2004. The Italian manufacturing group has won the award twelve times since 1967, if one includes Alfa Romeo and Lancia models built and sold post Fiat's acquisition of those companies.
The 500 polled 385 votes for different criteria, placing it ahead of the Mazda2 on 325 and the Ford Mondeo on 202.
Journalists selected to take part in the judging hailed from 22 different European countries and, according to Fiat, all bar one included the 500 in the short list of nominees.
The 500 is not only a critical success; it has been a commercial success too, with Fiat struggling to keep up with demand. New car buyers in Italy and France have placed orders in excess of 105,000 units so far and the 500 is second only to Fiat's Panda for European market share in the 'A segment' (equivalent to the light car segment in VFACTS).
Contributing factors in the 500's win include five-star NCAP safety rating and the large range of variants available.
Ateco Automotive will be launching the car in Australia from March of next year, but the importer advises that the first two months' supply has been pre-sold. Pricing will range from low to upper $20K range and the cars will be available in three levels of trim -- 'Pop', 'Sport' and 'Lounge' -- with a choice of one turbodiesel and two petrol engines (1.2, 1.4, 1.3 JTD). Transmissions will include both conventional manual and the DuaLogic robotised manual.
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