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First the Beetle, then the Mini and now, 50 years after the launch of its antecedent, the Fiat 500 is ripe for reinvention. The script is the same as it was with the Mini and Beetle: the small, cheap, utilitarian car that became iconic through its engineering purity and brilliance is relaunched as a heavily styled object, with the emphasis on premium build and desirability.

The original Nuova 500 was so basic that it was conceived partly as an alternative to a scooter; there was one ...Read the full article

Will the British public accept. It's a great car. Much better than the Mini. But somehow people just want a British Name. If a car is a Rover, Ford or Vaxhaull people just buy it. Remember the Rovers which were basically rebadged Hondas. You see them everywhere. Not many of the Hondas on the road. The CityRover was actually a TATA Indica from India. The Mini of course is a German (BMW) car. Fiat is the company that owns Ferrari. Remember how they beat McLaren despite the spying scandal. I think the Fiat 500 is going to remind the British public who really makes great cars!

Mr. Lourenco,

Some may be partiotic, but most buy German if the roads round me are anything to go by. By and large we British don't have a Major wholey owned British car manufacturer left, ( I stand to be corrected, and probably will be. I know we have cottage industry specialists around, Morgan, Ariel etc.). When Rover went under it was due to it being British, that it never got any backing from the Government or any large multinational automotive manufacturer at the time, (probably because most other manufacturers have had a hand in the Rover pie at some point and all pulled out due to having crystal balls (hindsight of others woes)).

So, I'm with you, if we can all go out and buy a BMW Mini because it says Mini on the back, the Fiat 500 should be a rouring success.

Lets face it, the original Beetle was a VW and still is, the original 500 was a Fiat and still is. The Original Mini was a small car designed and built by British engineers in Britain, the existing one loosely resembles the original in name only!!

 

A expensive car from fiat