Update: the Fiat 500 has been officially launched on the 4th of July.
You can find the full text of the press release, a huge photo gallery of the exterior of the 500 (55 photos) and of the “>interior and the details as well (42 photos).
Fiat has released the press kit for the new Fiat 500, with a high-resolution image gallery and some details about the most eagerly awaited Italian small car in a long time.
The new 500 was designed by the Centro Stile Fiat in Turin and will be built in the polish factory of Tichy.
The 500 will be 3.
57 meters long, 1.
65 m wide, 1.
49 m high, with a wheelbase of 2.
30 m.
Initially, the engine range will be composed of one turbodiesel engine and two naturally aspirated gasoline engines: the 1.
3-liter Multijet turbodiesel engine with 75 ps, the 1.
2 8v engine with 69 ps and the 1.
4 16v engine with 100 ps.
All will be coupled with 5 or 6-speed manual gearboxes.
Nothing is said about the eventual use of the other power-steps of the 1.
3 Multijet engine (90 and 105 ps), or about what engine will be used in the upcoming 500 Abarth (we hope it’ll be the 1.
4 T-JET, soon available in the 120 and 150 ps versions on the Bravo).
Below the fold the full text of the Fiat press release.
The new Fiat 500On July 4, 1957, in Turin, Fiat presented the Nuova Fiat 500, a real icon of our times, with which Fiat concluded a revival that had begun straight after the Second World War.
On July 4, 2007, exactly 50 years later, again in Turin, Fiat will present the new Fiat 500 which will be marketed immediately after the launch.
And the new car will conclude an equally important cycle of revival for Fiat Automobiles SpA.
Developed by the Fiat Style Centre and manufactured in the plant in Tychy (Poland), the new 500 is a 3-door model with very compact measurements: it is 355 cm long, 165 cm wide, 149 cm tall and has a wheelbase of 230 cm.
The car is extremely entertaining to drive, due to its three engines: a 75 bhp 1.
3 16v Multijet turbodiesel unit and two petrol engines, the 69 bhp 1.
2 8v and the 100 bhp 1.
4 16v, all of which are available with five or six speed mechanical gearboxes.
The model confirms Fiat Automobiles SpA’s undisputed leadership in this category – a result of its extraordinary heritage of technical, design and human experience accumulated in over a century – and it takes a quality leap forward in terms of comfort and safety, technology and equipment for this segment.
The new 500 is the most up-to-date solution for the motorist who ‘enjoys’ his car in complete freedom, appreciates it for day-to-day use, but also wishes to drive a car that is entertaining and practical, environmentally-friendly and accessible, but also appealing and full of fun.