Share

Meet the iPod of cars

accreditation
Fiat 500
Fiat 500
Rome - It was the small car you could park in the narrowest space on the piazza, as Italian as Prosciutto and espresso. On its 50th birthday the Cinquecento is back, and Fiat says it will become the iPod of cars.

Fiat is launching a new version of the three-door Cinquecento - which means "500" in Italian - at a ceremony in its hometown of Turin on Wednesday, with the car making its comeback after going out of production in the 1970s.

Fiat's chief executive says he wants to emulate Apple by making its cars as stylish as the US company's computers and electronic gadgets, including the mass-selling iPod portable music player.

"I want Fiat to become the Apple of cars," Sergio Marchionne told La Stampa newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday.

"And the Cinquecento will be our iPod," he said, referring to Apple's hugely successful iPod.

Like the Mini or the Volkswagen Beetle, the Cinquecento is an icon. For Italians, it epitomises the economic boom that their country enjoyed after the Second World War.

Cheap and efficient, it gradually replaced the scooter for millions of people whose living standards improved dramatically during the 1950s and 1960s.

After 18 years on the road the Cinquecento went out of production in 1975.

Marchionne said he was working to make Fiat a nimble carmaker after a successful restructuring.

It took Fiat 18 months to bring the new 500 to market.

"It's twice the time for a child to be born but half of what our competitors need (to make their own cars)," Marchionne said.

Faithful to the spirit of the original, the Cinquecento will sell as a mass-market, rather than a premium, car.

Its production target will also be small: an annual 120 000 units against a total Fiat output of about 2 million units.

And it faces competition from cars such as Renault's revamped Twingo.

Analysts expect the new 500 to help Fiat's image rather than its bottom line even though it will be built at a Polish plant to keep costs down.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE