Fiat 500 on Fast Track to America - VIDEO ENHANCED

SEE ALSO: Fiat 500C Makes Debut

WASHINGTON, DC - June 4, 2009: The AIADA newsletter reported that Richard Gadeselli, a Fiat spokesman at the automaker's headquarters in Turin, Italy, sent an e-mail message to confirm plans to take the 500—voted as Europe's Car of the Year in 2008—to Chrysler dealerships just in time for Christmas 2010.

That's barely 18 months away—just around the corner in auto development terms.

According to the New York Times, a publicity blitz has already started to acquaint Americans with Europe's hottest small car.

The microcar was the star attraction at an event at the Italian Consulate in New York earlier this week. And the car was seen motoring down Wall Street and having its picture taken next to the bull sculpture in Bowling Green Park.

At the New York auto show in April, before Fiat had agreed to take a stake in Chrysler, Jim Press, Chrysler's vice chairman, made a grand entrance onto the press conference stage in a Fiat 500. Click here for a photo.

Although Fiat and Chrysler will be collaborating on several vehicles, the 500 is the only one that will wear the Fiat badge in the United States.

Click here to read more about Fiat's plans to introduce the Fiat 500 to U.S. dealers.