Geneva 2011: Fiat 500 Coupe Zagato

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 piece of work.  Is it production bound?  Who knows.  What's important about the 500 Zagato is what's under the hood: a Fiat TwinAir Turbo engine.  Fiat has recently started selling 500's with 2-cylinder engines in Europe, and this concept introduces the turbocharged version of that engine.  With 105bhp out of only 875cc's (with 155nM/114lb-ft of torque), the Zagato would probably be extremely fun to drive.  Likelihood of Fiat selling a car with an 875cc turbocharged 2-cylinder in the states?  Yeah, right - even though it makes as much power as the non-turbo 1.4L I4 we'll be getting.

If Fiat DID produce the 500 Zagato, competition would pretty much just be the upcoming Mini Cooper Coupe (what an awkward name), the Honda CR-Z, and the Peugeot RC-Z diesel.  I feel like this more stylish configuration would go over very well in the 'states where we value style over substance most of the time, but it remains to be seen if it'll be made.  Still, it's a very cool concept.