I don’t see it making much of a mark. The U.S. has lived without the Fiat brand just fine.

I like the Cinquecentos. I’d be very leary about Fiat quality, though.

Badge it as a Festiva/Aspire and sell it at the Ford dealer – otherwise: it’s morto.

Why would Ford sell FIATs? This will be a great little car, America will be lucky to get any, the demand in Europe will be very strong

why the 500 name, ford 5oo then a fiat 5oo? i really dont like it much, kind of beetle`ish and kia`ish at the same time, and both of them make better cars than fiat.

CTS DRIVER, Google “Fiat 500″ and you’ll understand why the 500 name (unless you know the origin and just don’t like the name).

Wow, just when I thought homeboy was as stupid as he could possibly get.

wonder how it compares performance-wise to my ‘76 Fiat Spider 1800cc!

It’s not a bad idea bringing the Mini Cooper, oh sorry-Fiat 500, here, but the biggest problem would be dealerships. Can you see this thin sitting alongside a Quattroporte or F430? Yea, me neither.

It’s about damn time! I’ve been waiting for fiat to come back…I hope it will happen. I love fiat

gearhead its just a little too close timing wise for me thats all. it does look like the original though, i like the fiat bravo and grande better than this though.

homeboy234 why do the british brush their teeth with mustard? everytime i see that fat pig you call princess furgie on weight watchers commercials i wonder why she has a mouthfull of cheddar cheese. the princess who represents your country is a pig and you call americans fat, grow up littleman.

oh poor poor little homegirl dont know squat, and your iq must be in the negative range, go back to your cellmate and have him give you a reacharound next time.

most industrialized countries are fat, you friggin weirdos, its not like everybody in europe is a damn bodybuilder, jeez. but you do act all high and mighty so thats all stereotypical arrogance for the most part.

The Fiat 500 is a great little car, and its an idea that makes more and more sense all the time in light of increasing gas prices. For people looking for a nimble compact city car, this is a much better choice than the Smart ForTwo. Bring it along with a new mid-engine X1/9 and you’re back in business.

the childishness of the people here astounds me.

europerspective: supposedly this Fiat 500 is built on a Ford Ka platform. It would be clever, though, calling this thing a Ford 500. Hahahahhaha.

First of all – This is not myspace! so all the banter back and forth really needs to stop – NOW! its getting really annoying.

Secondly – Fiat would sell these by the boatload here! they should start in metro markets (NY/LA/SF) and go from there. I really cant see them sold next to a Ferrari or Maserati but Fiat/Alfa dealers would work very well

Fiat will sell the first boatload.

When they all breakdown on the roads and nobody can order parts or fix them the second boatload will be sent back to Italy.

I want Peugeot to come back for a really crappy car.

Possibly Get Real, but I think Fiat has made some strides in the quality dept since they were last in the US.

You are right about Peugeot, they are probably the worst brand ever built!

There is not a chance in hell that Ferrari USA dealers would sell that car. It ruins the image they are trying to keep.

Once again you are a complete idiot homeboy

It doesn’t have to be sold in someone elses dealership. Look how the smart fortwo is being sold. Independent importers can get them and sell quiet easily.

But forget it. US doesn’t deserve a car like this. Go play with your f-150s and keep complaining about the price of gas.

This is one of those fantasy stories. The 500 isn’t coming. Maybe as the Ford Ka, but that’s the only way. I mean, what’s the alternative. This POS vehicle at a Maserati dealership somewhere? Impossible! Nice red and white interior or not, there will be no Fiat 500 here. No.

Well, I’s seeing more and more fat europeans by the day, though the americans are probablymore overweighted… As for reliability, all euro makers which aren’t in the US have made large reliablity strides…As for Peugeot, especially for diesel engines, they’ll probbly outlast many equivelent german or american engines, the Mini and Ford use PSA developes engines anyway.

I don’t see any fat when I watch “Deal or No Deal”.

Babes all the way.

Lots of ignorant people go to this webiste

lol homeboy234, only 2/3 of Americans are overweight. I guess that’s what you get when you are the biggest kid on the block. It happens to all great empires. Look at Rome. Also, Scotland isn’t a country. It’s part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Anyways, I’d rather have a Mini if I’m getting a shoe box to drive around in. I wonder what the price would be on something like this? It seems like it would be in Mini territory…

CTS driver – that mustard crack was funny. Good one. But your followup lacked the the same kind of creativity. You’ve shown you’re capable of some impressive work – don’t get lazy!

Homeboy – with as much flaming as you’re doing, I’m looking forward to the time you begin to get better at it. Hopefully you’ll soon be able to come off as a teenager! Until then – practice, practice, practice!

RSPINAJR – go ahead! demand something else! It makes me giggle when you do. especially when you use ALL CAPS!

People, if you’re going to flame left and right, at least try to keep me entertained while you’re doing it. Quality, people! Not quantity!

The Fiat – I like lightweight cars, and the American market isn’t exactly saturated with them. But the inside looks like a target add. Imagine the spike in road rage incidents! Fiat + Alpha dealers? It could work.

My Grandfather owned a Fiat 600, which was basically a stretched 500. It was in the the family for 35+ years and I learned to drive stick in it. As a rear engine/RWD car @ 1300 lbs it was insanely fun in corners, and you had to shift and rev the heck out of the 30 HP engine but it seemed to love it. Cheap, easy to work on, loads of personality not crap, it’s what a car should be.
Now I know with current safety and emission controls are good for everyone, and the new version will invariably gain size and weight. However, If they keep it close to the original, they will have at least one buyer here…

pretty good commentary AdamT you made me laugh. From now on I’ll use ALL CAPS!

I’ve never really liked small cars, and this is probably one of the smallest cars out there. The interior is nice though.

Stridder, I completely agree with you and love the ignore button idea. LLN also seriously needs someone monitoring these forums to get people like homeboy off this site.

homeboy – thank you for uselessly repeating over and over again that you hate America, Americans, and everything that has anything to do with America. We get it. Now, take your hatred and put it on some other site, or at least try and make it entertaining and/or funny. Your childish behavior is just annoying, unwanted and unneeded. Stop posting comments unless they are actually useful and related to the news story.

I actually think that these little FIATs would look great in a Ferrari dealership. Fully specced with all the personalised touches they would bring an authentic touch of Italy and could be sold at a high price. Keep the numbers low and the prices high and it could be a really exclusive it car. I suppose that the new money wouldn’t get it (especially given the USA’s inability to understand irony), but that wouldn’t keep them away from their flashy new red car.

500 is sick, i’ll sell my 335i for it, it represents so much… and those of you that need to prove your a man by having hp and a nice car, go for it…
but in the end u still won’t be happy unless u look good……. so save the money and get some plastic surgery for the haters on here,=……….

Cute car. But it wont sell many units in the US.

This is about as likely to come to the United States as Kim Jong Ill. It’s too bad, too. I like the look of it. If it got like 60 mpg, it might be kind of cool.

I agree about an ignore feature, or a mediator. I’m less likely to visit the site with this kind of commentary, as I’m sure a lot of people are. Less traffic = less advertising dollars.

I can’t see the 500 coming to the US before Alfa is well re-established. They’ve done a lot of work with the 8c to build Alfa’s image, and fiat still has a terrible reputation in the US. If the 500 comes here, people are going to associate Alfa with Fiat rather than Maserati and Ferrari. At least there’s a possibility that it will effect the brand image, and I don’t think it’s worth messing with, especially to sell a few 500’s in the US. I could see Fiat coming back here someday with a limited number of models. Maybe after Alfa is well established, and has expanded their dealer network.

Also, they could bring the Alfa Junior or 149 over as a mini-competitor.

I like the interior on the 500 though.

/\ That last sentence kinda ruins your credibility.

Fiat 500’s used to be rear engined, much like the old VW Beetles until the 80’s. One would hope this same small car formula bought be brought back.

It LOOKS similar to the original 1960’s 500. I wonder what a 500 Abarth model would be like today?

I don’t see this as the vehicle that Fiat would try to break back into the US market with.. mainly because its retro styling looks nothing like other Fiat models, which doesn’t help when trying to expand the brand past one model. Another problem would be pricing.. no way they could make a profit without pricing it above the Japanese and VW, and Fiat doesn’t have the performance or reliability credentials to be premium priced against the Mini.

A Fiat That Looks Like Shiat That Thing Is Gross

This isn’t something I’d be interested in purchasing, but I’m sure if it was brought in limited numbers it could find buyers, so long as they don’t set their sights too high over here. Really it’d be an interesting car to have over here, not my cup of tea though, even in the micro compact class.

it’ll leak oil in your garage.

sadly, because it looks damn good.

150 horses will be a very fast car

ITS A CUTE LITTLE CAR!!! omg that interior is interesting… Im not sure i could ever get used to that, every day i’d say to myself “my god thats funky looking!”

(EDITED FOR CONTENT)

GTV6 get back to the seminary, there’s a few more choirboys who need you to show them gods love through their back passage.

Euro, wtf did gtv6 do to you?

Homeboy = Jeremy Clarkson

Clarkson, you’re jokes are funny in person but you need to work on your internet skills.

59 hp? i can run faster than that

Unfortunately, most of you are correct. The car is too small! If a vehicle is not over 6000 lbs, with 14 air bags, a 50-gallon tank, feeding a 400 horsepower v-8 and delivering 10 MPG Americans will not buy it.

A4, if you do not have 2 or 3 tons of excess mass to move 59 horses can be fun, and that 59 horse engine is probably a 60 MPG diesel engine. Some of the most fun I have had in a car was in a 120 horse HONDA CRX! I have an 82 Fiat Spider 2000 at 107 horses, 30 mpg and 2100 lbs it is a blast.

My 82 Fiat may be crap, but I will put it up against a 1982 domestic car any day of the week! Calling a car crap is only relevant if everything around it is a proverbial diamond, there were not many domestics from 1982 in that class. The problem with FIAT was not so much reliability; it was INCOMPETENT mechanics and poor dealer network! I keep my FIAT on the road with 82,000 miles, very few problems, shop manuals and exceptional mechanical ability. Most mechanics do not take the time to understand how FIATS work, mechanics do not understand FIATs so they cannot fix them; that is their downfall.

Sadly, most so-called “mechanics” are not mechanics at all; they are “parts changers”. There few “mechanics” who can diagnose and repair a problem, a true mechanic is not an easy thing to find in today’s market.

The 1957-1975 Fiat 500 was a rear engined, rear drive striaght-2 cylinder, with some more powerful motorsports versions. The successor was the Fiat 126, built from 1972 until 2000, also with a straight-2.

I like the old formula better than this front-drive 500 nonsense. Fiat couldn’t do another 2-cyl or even a 3-cylinder turbo in the rear compartment?

They could do it but they won’t, right? Even more laughable is that this is supposed to be their entry *flagship* car?

Please. Certain characteristics make some cars more desirable than others, even if the horsepower isn’t king.

Well, the 59hp(ECE, take out a couple of hp to convert it to SAE) is a 1,2l gas engine, and it has 69 and not 59hp, the diesel engine is FIAT’s 1.3 SDE with 75hp, ironically the 500/Panda platform will have a FORD KA built on it iin FIAT’s polish factory and it will have the same 1.3SDE which is also used by GM on Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Astra. As for 2 cylinder engines, FIAT is developing one, which will replace the 1.2 and 1.4 in the smaller cars, it will have a 60ho N/A and turbcherged varinats with 90/110hp, the Abarth model will probably have a 1.4 turbo with 150hp.

Homeboy,

I have driven small cars here in america like the subaru justy and geo metro for years. They are just as small and I love then. Altough it is a waste to say it you are an ignorant little turd. What your saying is like saying that all people from the uk are in shape, non violent, and have at least a primary education. You like a person from any other country, if they have to wave a flag so much must be the ones that are little turds.

Oh yeah the fiat is really cool and I would buy one in a second but it will never make its way here.

sorry but my impression is in U.S.A. you have a very different idea to concept a car. in my country (italy) fiat 500 will be a great car because gas price is very expensive and in the cities there ins’t enought space to park everybody,cars are growing up too much for the space we have.
Very sorry for my english….goodbye

Funny – lots of folks didn’t think that Mini would be successful here in the US being sold next to 7-Series and the like…

Some of you guys need to grow up – and the moderators of this website (Are there any???) need to delete some posts. 

Rebadge it as an Alfa Romeo.

And only offer the turbodiesel engine. Forget about weak gas-engine models.

I may trade my MINI Cooper for this car given the great fuel economy, unless Alfa Romeo chooses to deny America the diesel version which I see most likely. It will be interesting to see if this is a well built Italian small car or an eco-box, we don’t need another Kia for the U.S.

Interesting Yankee vs. Euro debate. I think probably the best cars available in the U.S. SHOULD BE Mazdas (almost 100% Japanese parts/assembly). But they cram 2.3 Liter engines in their small cars to satisfy the U.S. market. It is really sad.

I own a “Chevy” Aveo with a 1.6 L engine. Thanks to the pedal-stomping goons that help foolproof and bullet-proof modern cars, I drive it sensibly for next to nothing. I have had it for three years and have done nothing but change the oil. I wish it got better than 33 MPG, but what do you expect for less than 10k?

It is really funny to read all this years later. Now we know that it will be the Dodge 500. Can’t wait to get my hands on one!

I lived in Italy for 2 years and Fiat makes EXCELLENT cars. We have some real garbage car makers in the US and many low quality imports (Suzuki, Kia etc).

Fiat Panda, Punto, 500, and others are great rides for the money.

Would also be great to have Alfa Romeo dealers in the US!

Fiats will be back in the US-finally. In resnse to PrimeGTP’s comment about America doing fine without Fiat, well, Fiat has done just dandy without the US, too. Better than any of the big 3 have done at home OR abroad. Fiats got a terrible rap about quality in the US; when they were sold here in the late 60’s and 70’s, they were the first cars to be inported using a toothed-belt cam drive; unfortunately for us, they built the cars with interference potential in the valve-piston arena if the belt broke, and mistakenly expected US owners to be conscientious about maintenance-a BIG, BIG mistake. Having owned four Fiats over the years, I can say that quality wasn’t an issue. My 124’s, both coupes and spyders, would easily outrun any MG’s or Triumphs of their time, both in a straight line, through the twisties, and with superior braking; so much so that they were either outlawed or outclassed by the British and German dominated SCCA. The X1/9, a Bertone styled gem, was outright outlawed after it won 51 of its first 53 national races. They were easy to work on for the home mechanic, and parts were cheap. The 128, though underpowered in US trim, was among the most space efficient cars of its time. And Italian styling is beyond reproach. The Italians can make a box look great, and the 128, 124 Berlina, and the 131 proved it.

So we should be counting ourselves lucky that Fiat had the bass to take on Mopar when NOBODY ELSE could make a go of it, and that they-HOPEFULLY-will deem us worthy of importing a line of their cars with the Fiat marque. And maybe Alfa, too! Let’s keep our fingers crossed, and you idiots who know nothing of automotive design or history, sharpen up, or shut the @#%$ up!!!