MIMS: Fiat, Ferrari and Maserati - the queue starts here

Fiat, Ferrari and Maserati have bolstered their already bulging order books with strong early reactions to their new car lineups at MIMS.

Fiat's new baby, the 500 is priced from $22,900 Down Under. It has been a global hit since it was first launched in Europe last year with the Italian maker struggling to keep up with demand.

That demand has been mirrored in Australia and although the car only went on sale this week, half of the local distributor's 2008 allocation of 500 cars already has names against them. Thus if you wander into your Fiat dealer tomorrow and place an order, you'll have to wait until September before you can drive away.

At the other end of the scale, Ferrari, already has a waiting list of two and half years for its Melbourne star, the new $550K F430 Scuderia.

The third new Italian model in the distributor's lineup that made its Australian debut at the Melbourne show, the $308,000 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT-S, doesn't have a waiting list -- yet. Nevertheless, the nature of the car means that any potential buyers are still more likely to place a bespoke order than buy from the showroom floor.

All three marques are distributed locally under the Ateco Automotive umbrella. And if the reaction of the MIMS press day crowd is anything to go by, it's going to be a bumper year for the operation.

At the entry-level end, Fiat is pushing the 500 as far more than a baby three-door hatch. According to Fiat general manager, David Stone, the company plans to use the small car as a standard bearer for the future branding of Fiat in Australia.

He says Fiat is "all about Italian style and performance". Fun and funky are words that would not go astray and Stone says the company is not about to play in the mainstream market with "middle of the road" transport.

You only need to look at the accessories list for the 500 that includes no less than 18 different decal packs to liven up the paintwork for evidence. Like another reincarnated hit, BMW's new MINI, the 500 aims to offer a huge degree of personalisation, which, of course, adds to the cost. Stone says a fully-optioned top-of-the-range 500 will probably cost in the low $30K region.

The 500 also claims a number firsts on the safety and environmental front, being the smallest car to obtain a five-star ENCAP occupant protection crash rating and the lowest fuel consumption of any car on the Australian market of 4.2L/100km for the midrange $25,990 1.3-litre turbodiesel.

Two petrol engines are also on offer -- 1.2 and 1.4-litre fours -- with a choice of three transmissions (five and six-speed manuals and five-speed automated sequential Dualogic manual, depending on model) and three trim levels.

Furthering the car's 'sports' credentials, a higher performance model is due to arrive sometime next year accompanied by a hot version of the bigger Punto hatch. Both sporties will wear Abarth badging.

Fiat's new Golf/308 rival, Ritmo, was also on display at Melbourne.

If it's ultimate performance you are after, then take a look at Ferrari's 430 Scuderia.

It is essentially a stripped-out, hardened version of the already rapid 4.3-litre V8 mid-engined two-seater 430. For a little more than a $100K over the standard six-speed sequential manual 430 F1, you get a 19kW/5Nm boost in the engine department and firmer suspension, bigger brakes and sharper steering -- all fine-tuned by Michael Schumacher.

Luxury items such as carpets and audio systems have been removed, which along with body mods helps drop the weight by about 100kg enabling a 0-100kmh time of 3.6sec.

If, however, you like your carpets and audio systems -- not to mention two extra seats  -- and still want plenty of  performance, then Maserati is offering the new Quattroporte GT-S, also on display at MIMS.

Based on the QP Sport GT Automatic, the S is lower -- by 10mm at the front and 25mm at the rear -- stiffer, and has uprated brakes and bigger 20-inch rubber for improved handling.

Outside, minor cosmetic changes mark the car while inside it features carbon-fibre and alloy highlights and tighter body-hugging sports seats.