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Fiat 500 – World Car Design of the Year 2009

Fiat 500 - World Car Design of the Year 2009

The World Car of the Year Awards were announced last week at the New York International Auto Show. You have already read about the Golf VI claiming the overall WCOTY gong, but there were a few extra chocolates handed out as well. The Fiat 500 was the recipient of some goodness when it was declared the 2009 World Car Design of the Year.

The Fiat was adjudged ahead of the Citroën C5 Sedan / C5 Tourer and the Jaguar XF.

Roberto Giolito, Fiat’s Head of Design said, “Italian design has often been a step ahead of future trends in the automotive world and our latest models, spearheaded by the Fiat 500, are an expression of ‘practical beauty’, which is what the world expects of Italian cars. We will continue to work untiringly on innovative design, and endeavour to combine the best of the future with the historical, cultural and industrial identity of the Fiat brand.”

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Fiat Abarth 500

Fiat Abarth 500

The new Fiat Abarth 500 has recently been launched in the UK. The car was loved by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear and the rekindling of the Abarth’s scorpion badge is sure to get a few pulses racing.

Powered by a 1.4-litre 16-valve turbo engine the Abarth 500 produces 100kW (135bhp) at 5500rpm. With the use of the, now apparently mandatory, Sport mode peak torque reaches 206Nm at 3000rpm. That’s enough to take the little Fiat from rest to 100km/h in 7.9 seconds, not earth shattering performance by any means, but spritely all the same.

However, if you want more power from your Abarth Fiat has you covered with the esseesse (SS) upgrade. For an extra £2500 the lads at the Fix It Again Tony garage will tweak your engine’s ECU to taking power up to 120kW (160bhp). To allow for better breathing a BMC air filter is also included. That’s not all, though, as uprated brakes and suspension are also included in the conversion which can be retro fiitted within the first 12 months or 20,000 kilometres of ownership. You even get to keep the box your esseesse kit is delivered in.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Fiat 500 look. It’s cute enough, it’s city enough, but the awkward looking headlight treatment makes the car appear to have four funny eyes. Never mind that, though, getting some time behind the wheel of the esseesse model would no doubt be a barrel of laughs.

Full presser and more pics after the jump.

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Fix It Again Tony

This Fiat van is very unreliable

All publicity is good publicity, right?! Not so, it seems, as this Fiat customer in the UK shows. The disgruntled owner has taken matters into his own hands using sign writing on his 2007 model Doblò to get the message out about his unhappiness. Or as the signage says, “Since new nothing but aggro”! The photo was snapped by eagle eyed London designer Ben Terrett.

Source: Noisy Decent Graphics via autoblog