Fiat Automobiles SpA will launch sales this summer of its all-new Fiat 500, or Cinquecento, model.
The Italian auto maker officially will unveil the entry-level car July 4, exactly 50 years to the day it presented the Nuova 500 that put the capper on its post-World War II recovery. Fiat built 3,893,294 Nuova 500s from 1957 to 1975.
The new model, which will go on sale immediately after its unveiling, is a 3-door measuring 139.8 ins. (355 cm) long and 65.0 ins. (165 cm) wide and sits on a 90.6-in. (230-cm) wheelbase.
It will be offered with three 4-cyl. engines, a 75-hp 1.6L 16-valve Multijet turbodiesel and two gasoline powerplants – a 69-hp 1.2L and a 100-hp 16-valve 1.4L. All three will be available with either a 5- or 6-speed manual transmission.
Fiat reportedly is targeting sales of 58,000 of the new 500 this year and 120,000 units in its first full year on the market in 2008.
