Fiat 500 good little package

That newly reincarnated bastion of mini-motoring, the Fiat 500, arrives in Australia from March. As thousands of car enthusiasts converged on the centre of Fiat's home city Turin this week to mark the launch of the new Cinquecento, the car's Australian pricing and basic specification were announced.

The reborn 500 will be available here with the current top-of-the-range engines. The 1.4-litre petrol and 1.3-litre direct-injection turbo-diesel as seen in the bigger Fiat Punto. Pricing will be in the mid-$20,000 range.

It is expected that the 'hottish' Abarth version, with a 110kW 1.4-turbo engine, will arrive late in 2008. A convertible will follow in 2009.

A video of the Abarth Cinquecento being tested on the Nurburgring, with a tasteful exhaust burble clearly audible, has been airing on YouTube. But suggestions of an appearance at this year's Sydney motor show were quashed by the importer, Ateco Automotive.

Although the 500 is sure to add some spice to Fiat's local passenger car range which; currently consists solely of the Punto; the reception in its home city has been hyperbolic. Some 200,000 people have converged on the Turin city centre. Perhaps more impressively, in excess of 12,000 orders for the 500 were placed on a single day.

Hundreds of old 500 models, including the original Topolino (Little Mouse) from the 1930s and the spiritual predecessor of the current 500, which was manufactured between the 1950s and '70s, were driven across the European continent to the Fiat fiesta. It's a daunting prospect to anyone of more than average height who has ever folded themselves into an old 500 for a trip further than the shops. This weekend, 30 other Italian cities will donate their fabled main squares to presentations of the new 500, including the Piazza del Popolo in Rome and Piazza del Duomo in Milan. But this outpouring is more about the future than the past.

Fiat's Polish plant, which currently produces the Panda and Seicento (600), is being readied for the new minicar, which will be joined next year by its Ford sister vehicle, the Ka.

At that point, the Polish facility will be producing more than 500,000 cars per year.

Minicars have always been logical means of mobility in Europe's congested cities. Now in Sydney's ever-worsening traffic conditions, the appeal of an inexpensive, economical, environmentally friendly but stylish car is suddenly appealing.

Developed by the Fiat Style Centre and manufactured in the Tychy plant in Poland, the new 500 is a three-door model with ultra compact measurements: 355cm long by 165cm wide; 149cm tall with a wheelbase of 230cm.

If the bigger potholes that pockmark NSW roads can be avoided, the 500 promises to be a fun drive, especially with the 1.3JTD which is

good for 66kw and a fat 200Nm. The new 500 incorporates design aspects of the old model.

It is seen as a competitor for BMW's lower-end Mini range and the Smart. Fiat officials say its dealers have already ordered 23,000 of the new model against the 58,000 sales target for this year, and 120,000 on a full-year basis. Australians are sure to be well represented among buyers.