 
The iconic Fiat 500 has been elected 2009 Design Car of the Year by
59 journalists from around the world, beating 51 shortlisted cars from
the world's top car makers. The 500, which is seeing the launch of a
convertible version, was the favorite to beat the Citroen C5 and the
Jaguar XF, the other two finalists at the last round of judging at the
recently concluded New York International Motor Show.
 Fiat's
chic and sophisticated small car, which will soon hit Sri Lanka, took
the top design prize. The car is basically a re-engineered reincarnation
of the Old 500, a tough workhorse which is still plying our roads.
Four international design experts, Silvia Baruffali, Editorial
Director of Auto & Design magazine, Robert Cumberford, design critic and
journalist for Automobile and Auto & Design magazines, Akira Fujimoto,
Editor-in-Chief of Car Styling magazine and Tom Matano, Executive
Director of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art
University in San Francisco, voted the Fiat 500 absolute winner of this
year's award.
"We are proud to receive this prestigious international award, as
further endorsement of Fiat's commitment to creating attractive,
innovative cars, which express the best of Italian manufacturing
capability," commented Roberto Giolito, Fiat's Head of Design.
 As
he points out, Italian design has often been a step ahead of future
trends in the automotive world and the Fiat 500 is an expression of
'practical beauty'.
Icon is an overused word in the automotive world," the judges said in
their official citation, "but the Fiat 500 dating from 1957 genuinely
deserves the sobriquet. Revived by Fiat last year, the new Cinquecento
is larger than its predecessor but still smaller than a MINI. Cheerful
and cheeky, it does a brilliant job of capturing the visual appeal of
the original version while meeting modern design and engineering
standards."
There was more praise from juror (and design consultant and critic)
Cumberford, who remarked that the new 500 "pushes the emotional hot
buttons of several generations of people who might never have driven one
of the early models, but who admired them on European streets". Leading
academic Matano said that the Fiat is "genuine, straightforward, without
gimmicks. It is a welcome addition to a car world full of non-humanistic
designs."
The Fiat 500 is available in right-hand drive with a choice of three
frugal, ultra-low emissions Euro 5 engines, including 69 bhp 1.2-litre
and 100 bhp 1.4-litre petrol units, and the 75 bhp 1.3-litre MultiJet
turbodiesel.
Power is delivered through manual or automatic transmissions, while
Fiat's fuel saving Start and Stop system is also available. |
