The Fiat 500 Wins the "Prize of Prizes" Awarded by the Ministry for Public Administration and Innovation

TURIN – June 10, 2009: On the occasion of National Innovation Day, which was held in Rome at the Quirinal building in the presence of the Head of State, the “Prize of prizes” was awarded to the Fiat 500. This award is given by the Ministry for Public Administration and Innovation, which aims at supporting entrepreneurial skills, the university world, public administration and the tertiary sector, as well as to provide incentives to pursue creative activities in order to develop a culture of change. Innovation means the transformation of an idea into a sellable product or operational process (either new or improved) in commerce, industry or even in the new approach of a social service.

The award was also devised to highlight the importance the Italian Government places on companies, public and private bodies and individual inventors, supporting their role in the social, economic and scientific development of the Country, facilitating osmosis between an entrepreneurial and financial world and the business culture. The “Prize of prizes" was collected by Lorenzo Ramaciotti (head of Style at Fiat Group Automobiles and Maserati) and Roberto Giolito, head of the Fiat Style Centre and designer of the 500.

The natural way in which the design of the 500 was dealt with at the Fiat Style Centre made it possible to assimilate to perfection great technical expertise with the ability to express the strength of the brand. The new 500 is first and foremost a car that is usable by everyone and today the concept of usability is among the most modern in design. The result is a car capable of stirring your emotions and offering all the latest technical features. That is exactly why the appearance of the previous 500 was reinterpreted for the modern customer, taking into account three fundamental aspects in particular. First of all the style, recognisable and always trendy thanks to a design that makes a statement of its identity; its being "easy", designed for an intuitive and instinctive approach, without secrets yet with great abilities; and lastly the added value of it being "personal", i.e. devised and customised for the customer, brimming with solutions which make it so appealing. The manufacturer didn't strive to make a car that looked like the 500, but rather a car that was the 500 "anew", following in the footsteps of the great small city cars from Turin which commenced with the 1930s Topolino.

Demonstration of the success of this approach are the 300,000 customers who have purchased it all over the globe in just under two years since it was launched on the market, much more than the initial forecasts. What's more, all sorts of customers go for the Fiat 500. The most popular version is the richer “Lounge” with a 1.2 69 HP petrol engine and the favourite colour is Bossa Nova White.

The 500 also boasts some other records: it is the first car in segment A with the highest safety level (5 stars of the EuroNCAP regulation) and with the lowest pollution rate of its category, with engines that since its debut on the market complied with the Euro 5 directive. Its technical features, which are uncommon for such a small car – including the 7 air-bags which guarantee total protection for driver and passengers, the last generation petrol and diesel engines, the high efficiency body in terms of rigidity and resistance which have already been rewarded in the specific technical spheres – make the 500 an excellent example of what is today defined as “downsizing”, i.e. conveying to the small vehicle all the benefits which were an exclusive of the superior segments and categories, while maintaining low emissions and respecting the environment and the collective space.

The challenge of the 500 in all its versions (including the 500C to be launched in a few weeks' time) is not to perform an exercise of futuristic and hyper-technological representation, but to offer a concrete and real mobility solution as the new Fiat city-car, with profound roots in the brand's history.