Car Throttle

Italian coachbuilder and stylist Zagato has a long history with Fiat. They've rebodied plenty of Fiats in their time, and at the Geneva show Zagato showed off the latest collaboration between the two brands: the Fiat 500 Coupe Zagato. From the windowline down, the Coupe Zagato is standard 500.  But Zagato restyled the upper half of the car to be more of a slick-back coupe and less of a hatchback, and the styling blends surprisingly well.  It has a touch of Renault Megane Coupe about the rear side glass, but it's a very nice styling exercise. The famous Zagato double-bubble roof (which is there to allow clearance for race helmets) works very well here, and the way the roof blends into a spoiler is a slick

I'm so excited about the Fiat 500, I can hardly sleep at night. Alright, that might be an exaggeration - but I love small sporting hatchbacks, and the 500 Abarth will be the first real challenge to the US throne of "blown mini hatch" since the Mini hit our shores early in the last decade.  While the turbocharged version of the 500 won't be arriving at the same time the normal slow versions will, it's good to know there will be aftermarket support when it gets here. Novitec, the German tuner known for strapping superchargers to Ferraris (still a concept I find odd in a lot of ways!) has gotten it's hands on the little turbo Fiat, and the result seems like a lot of fun. 

In a move that shows their clear intentions, Chrysler has started designating new franchises for the FIAT brand in the USA. The initial list of new dealerships selling the Italian brand included dealerships in New York, Massachusetts, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Maine. Now the list is increasing to other parts of the country. Some dealers who closed their doors during the ‘08/’09 crisis are happy to take the FIAT brand. One former Saturn dealer in Florida is happy to hang the Italian logo where GM’s forgotten import fighters were once sold. It seems that Chrysler is doing its best to avoid the mistakes made by FIAT in the US in the 70s and 80s. Back then the Turin brand did not have a dedicated dealership basis, instead the

No doubt most anticpated vehicle to come out of the Chrysler-Fiat partnership would have to be the Fiat 500. The retro minicar has made a big splash in international markets, with it helping to power Fiat's ascendancy. On our shores, many think it could prove to be serious competition for BMW's highly successful MINI. What is more, it looks like it will become an even better car for the transition across the Atlantic. The car is set to be built in Mexico on Fiat's new A-platform, which will also underpin the next-generation 2011 Fiat Panda and Lancia Ypsilon. The new platform will offer improved crash protection (meeting the strict U.S. standards), along with more refinement and reductions in NVH (noise, vibration and harshness). North American is the only lucky

Fiat's tiny retro-supermini, the 500, has been taking Europe by storm. Styled to resemble the old Cinquecento, and designed to take the fight directly to Mini, the 500 has been capturing hearts and minds on the continent since it's debut.  Like any good supermini, there are heaps of variants for every sort of taste.  There was the pinked-out Barbie edition (gag), the hot-rod turbocharged Abarth models, a Ferrari-inspired special, and even a roll-top 500C convertible.  The Geneva show will see the debut of the latest in the line, which combines the sporty trimmings and mechanics of the Abarth with the aforementioned soft-top 500C convertible. The 500C, unlike most convertibles, doesn't actually have a folding roof- rather, a fabric section running down the center of the roof

Attack of the superminis! There hasn't been any shortage of introductions in the segment lately. Alfa Romeo MiTo, Ford Fiesta, Audi A1, just to name a few. Let us know what your favorites of the lot are in a CarThrottle Asks post on the subject. The Fiat 500 is one of those models, and much fanfare has been made out of its planned sale in the United States market. It is gunning for basically the only successful model in the segment in the U.S, the MINI. Twitter has a lot of uses for those interested in the automotive industry - it can add confirming a time frame for the new 500's arrival to the list. Ralph Gilles, the Chief Executive Officer of the Dodge brand

A lot of the news coming out the past few days has been understandably centered around the Fiat-Chrysler partnership. The six-hour press conference resulted in a lot of products news. The Fiat 500 is a highly anticipated model to come a result of the partnership. Now the official details are in. Most recently we reported on news that the Fiat 500 would be coming first as an Abarth model. Sadly, that seems news was too good to be true. The first 500 model to come to the United States will be the standard, coming in the fourth quarter of 2010. The second model will be the 500C Convertible, coming sometime in 2011. Those looking for the sports-focused Abarth model will have to wait until 2012.

The Fiat-Chrysler partnership promises to bring some exciting product to the United States that we otherwise might not have had. The Alfa Romeo brand in particular is a welcome reentry for those who want something a bit different. The Wall Street Journal just came out with it's roadmap for the Alfa Romeo-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep brand lineup, but there now there is some news on a certain model in particular. The Fiat 500 is one of the models slated to be sold in Chrysler dealerships, set to do battle with BMW's successful MINI lineup. But, as too often happens with imports into the U.S, many weren't sure if the sporty 500 Abarth performance variant would be making it over. WardsAuto is reporting that Chrysler dealers are being briefed by Fiat

Spend any time in a densely populated car forum, and one thing you're likely to hear is some variation on the following phrase: "If America's the most powerful country in the world, and we've pushed the automotive genre farther than anyone else... why do we get all these crap cars, and the rest of the world gets all this awesome metal we can't even get a chance at?" While there are plenty of answers to that question - for instance, models that don't meet crash or emissions regulations, cars that wouldn't have a market in the US (do you know anyone in the US that would buy a Seat? Most Americans would think you're talking about a spot on the bus), cars that manufacturers would lose money

Italian automaker FIAT has revealed the expected convertible version of the 500 supermini ahead of it's debut at the Geneva auto show next month. It's pretty much what fans of the super cute subcompact were expecting, which is no bad thing. The drop-top (sort of!) version, called the 500C, differs from it's competition mainly in it's structure.  Instead of having a full drop-top (as in, the entire roof folds), the 500C retains it's roof arches and C-pillar, with a powered roll-back canvas top providing fresh air. I suppose the main benefit of this is retaining the majority of the closed car's structural rigidity and rollover safeness, but I suspect it also has a lot to do with it being cheaper as well as a historical reference.  See