BRISBANE: The all new Fiat 500 model 2015 has been in Australian market from less then $30,000 price tag with turbo 1.4 litre four-cylinder and six-speed petrol engine.
The 500X will be a smash hit as long as Fiat isn’t too greedy with the price. It brings styling flair to what is at risk of becoming a hum-drum segment of the new-car market.
It’s called the Fiat 500X and it’s due in Australian showrooms in August priced from less than $30,000, although the range will likely peak at more than $40,000.
In reality it has nothing in common with the pint-sized Fiat 500 city runabout, apart from the name and some styling cues. In fact, it shares its DNA with a Jeep: the box-shaped Renegade (due on month later, in September) has the same underpinnings as the 500X, it’s just wearing a different suit.
Indeed, both the Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X are made on the same Italian production. Sacre-bleu! Or whatever that might be in Italian. Fiat (as with every other car maker) has figured out that good design pays handsomely.
Consider this: it costs the same to manufacture a beautiful headlight or an elegantly-shaped fender as it does to make something that’s a bit Plain Jane.
Buyers will pay more if a car looks good, impresses their peers, and makes the owner feel warm and fuzzy every time they walk up to it and unlock the doors. Call it a win-win, because the car-makers are making bank.
Fiat (and the rest of the car industry for that matter) believe the phenomenal global growth in SUV sales (and the number of varieties available) is set to continue for the rest of the decade, and may even go beyond 2020.
We’ve not seen anything like this since the invention of the hatchback, which is an interesting parallel because that’s what these cars are effectively replacing.
City-sized SUVs can fit in the same size parking space as a Toyota Corolla and yet have the tall driving position of a Range Rover.
And we can’t get enough of them, which is why even the Italians, who would have scoffed at the idea of a Fiat 500-inspired “faux-wheel-drive” less than a decade ago. Next they’ll be drinking cappuccinos in the afternoon.
There will be two engine choices (well, two different power outputs from the same 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine), three transmissions (two types of automatic and a manual) and four model grades when it arrives in Australia.
No diesel variant is planned at this stage, in part because the petrol engines are so economical nowadays, and diesel engines still attract a price premium because, for some reason, they’re dearer to develop and manufacture, we’re told. We tested the least powerful of the two engine choices matched to a manual transmission.
The stunning Alfa Romeo Mito is one such example: never before has such a beautiful design been layered on top of such a rudimentary underbody: it’s a decades-old Fiat Punto underneath, which is why it doesn’t drive anywhere near as nice as it looks.
