Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sweet Life is Back for Fiat

The ANNOTICO Report

 

 The iconic Fiat 500 -- the Cinquecento -the unlikely transport of the Latin lover: a symbol of exhilarating freedom and romance to a weary post-war generation of Italians is back- in an updated version,  unveiled to an outpouring of nostalgia and national pride.

 

Sweet Life is Back for Fiat

The Australian

Richard Owen
Rome

March 24, 2007

It was the unlikely transport of the Latin lover: a symbol of exhilarating freedom and romance to a weary post-war generation of Italians.

Now, half a century after the iconic Fiat 500 -- the Cinquecento -- was introduced, an updated version has been unveiled to an outpouring of nostalgia and national pride.

Like the Mini and Volkswagen Beetle -- which have also been given a new lease on life in modern versions -- the Fiat 500 is not so much a car, more a myth, said one enthusiast.

For Italians preoccupied with economic woes, political instability and scandals, the 50th anniversary celebrations of Europe and the Cinquecento recall the optimism of the country's post-war economic boom and heady days of the dolce vita. A Fiat 500 featured in Fellini's film that gave the era its name.

Renzo Arbore, a veteran Italian singer and entertainer, said: "For our generation, the Cinquecento was the courting car of the Latin lover. It was a kind of mini bachelor pad on wheels."

Like the Vespa, the Fiat 500, the brainchild of the designer Dante Giacosa, symbolised Italians' newfound freedom and mobility and featured frequently in classic films of the 1950s and 60s. "Perhaps Fiat could issue a car blanket of the kind we used to take along for romantic purposes," Mr Arbore said.

He said the original was "compact, not to say small, but there always seemed to be plenty of room. It was not just a car, it was an object of passion".

According to Silvia Depaoli, the head of the Fiat 500 Club at Garlenda in Liguria, which has 10,000 members and holds a rally every summer, the old Fiat 500 remains a symbol of "freedom of movement" for many Italians.

Ms Depaoli -- who owns six 500s -- said she hoped the new version would "appeal to the young, just as the original did to us in the 1960s".

Nothing, however, could replace the classic Cinquecento, which "achieved an immortal place in our hearts ... it was part of our youth, our loves and our life".

Four million of the originals were made in 18 years and about one million are thought to have survived.

The new version will be greener and faster than the original, which had a top speed of only 95km/h. It is wired up for satellite navigation, iPods and Bluetooth, but retains the circular dials and white-leather steering wheel of the 1957 version.

 

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