USA - FIAT Offers a selection of new packages for the ever popular 500 City Car.

• Three new custom appearance options: Sport Black Trim Package, Two-Tone Package, and Abarth Roof, Mirror Cap and Body Stripe Package
• Three available trim levels for 2017 Fiat 500: Pop, Lounge and Abarth
• 2017 Fiat 500 Pop starts at $14,995 U.S. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP); high-performance Abarth starts at $19,995 MSRP
• Additional options available across all trim levels include automatic transmission ($995), sunroof ($795) and Cabrio ($1,495)
• 2017 marks 60th anniversary of the iconic Fiat 500

The FIAT brand is offering new looks for its iconic, Italian-designed, fun-to-drive 500.

Customers may give their Cinquecentos even more style by adding new optional appearance packages: Sport Black Trim, Two-Tone, and Abarth Roof, Mirror Cap and Body Stripe. Additional options include an automatic transmission ($995), sunroof ($795) and Cabrio ($1,495).

 

“With its iconic, timeless, head-turning Italian design, the Fiat 500 continues to offer the ultimate in individual expression,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands, Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT – FCA North America. “With new custom appearance packages and a full menu of options, customers can get exactly what they want while creating their own fun-to-drive personal statement.”

Sport Black Trim Appearance Package

The Sport Black Trim Package is available on the 2017 Fiat 500 Pop and features body-color sport fascias and fog lamps, black-trimmed headlamps, a black painted roof, side sill ground effects, black side-view mirror caps, black sport spoiler, black tail lamps and 16-inch Hyper Black aluminum wheels.

Interior features include sport cloth bucket seats with silver accent stitching, a front-passenger armrest and a black instrument-panel bezel. The MSRP for the package is $1,295.

Two-Tone Appearance Package

Available on the 2017 Fiat 500 Pop, customers may select a Nero (black), Rosso (red) or Bianco (white) accent roof and matching mirror caps. The MSRP for the package is $295.

Abarth Roof, Mirror Cap and Body Stripe Appearance Package

Available on the Fiat 500 Abarth, this appearance package offers a secondary roof color choice of Nero (black), Rosso (red), Rhino (gray) or Bianco (white). In addition, an accent color (black, red, gray or white) may be chosen for the mirror caps, body-side stripe, roof and spoiler. The MSRP for the package is $495.

The latest Special Edition Fiat 500 - the Mirror now comes with Apple CarPlay & Android Auto,

• Orders for the Fiat 500 Mirror are now open
• Prices start from £12,515 OTR
• New smartphone integration systems Apple CarPlay and Android Auto™ debut on the Fiat 500 Mirror 

Besides marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Fiat 500, 2017 also sees the debut of the Fiat 500 Mirror. This special edition marks the introduction of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on the Fiat 500, with a car that’s always connected and packed with content.

The Fiat 500 Mirror is available in a choice of five exterior colours, including Electronica Blue, and enhances its classic look with chrome finished door mirror covers, a brushed aluminium “Mirror” badge on the B pillar and 14-inch wheels with chrome finished wheel covers. 15-inch alloy wheels are also available as an option.

Standard equipment is extended to include speed limiter, integrated controls on the leather steering wheel and Uconnect™ 7-inch HD LIVE touchscreen with Bluetooth, USB-AUX IN ports and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 

The introduction of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto means that users can access the main applications of their smartphones directly on the 7-inch screen of the Uconnect™ system. Apple CarPlay enables iPhone users to access Apple Maps, Apple Music, messages, phone and more with Siri or the Uconnect™ touchscreen, while Android Auto integration also allows drivers to manage the compatible content and features on their device directly from the integrated touch screen or by using the system’s vocal commands. 

The new Fiat 500 Mirror is available as both a hatchback and a convertible, with the 1.2-litre 69hp petrol engine. The 1.2-litre petrol registers a fuel consumption of 60.1mpg on the combined cycle and emits just 110g/km CO2. When combined with the Dualogic gearbox, the mpg increases to 62.8 on the combined cycle and the CO2 drops to 105g/km. 

Euro NCAP tests six new cars with ratings varying from 3 stars to the full 5 star rating.

Euro NCAP releases the results of six new cars. The Audi Q5, Land Rover Discovery and Toyota C-HR all get a top five-star safety rating; Citroën’s C3 gets four stars; and FIAT’s ageing 500 and Ford’s brand new Ka+ notched up three out of five stars apiece.    

The new Audi Q5 and Toyota C-HR showed good all-round performance in all areas of assessment to earn their five-star ratings. The Land Rover Discovery scored highly enough to merit a five-star rating, but not without problems. 

In the frontal offset test, the driver airbag bottomed out owing to insufficient pressure and, in the side barrier test, the driver’s door became unlatched.

Grateful thanks to Euro NCAP for the use of the pictures.

Euro NCAP’s Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said, “Jaguar Land Rover has an ambitious programme of new model releases in the coming years. We hope that this challenging schedule and tight development times do not compromise the safety of the vehicles offered, and we hope that they will take our findings onboard”.

Still going strong more than 10 years after it first hit markets, FIAT’s reincarnation of the iconic 500 continues to be a popular choice in the supermini segment. Euro NCAP tested the recent facelift against the latest safety rules and benchmarked its performance with two newcomers in the same segment, the all-new Citroën C3 and the low-cost Ford Ka+. Superminis are extremely popular in the European new car market and the segment is very price-sensitive. To deliver attractive yet affordable cars, manufacturers are tempted to cut down on safety equipment, emphasising great looks and style instead. Case in point are the FIAT 500 and the Ford Ka+ that lack rear seatbelt pretensioners and load-limiters, by now standard on most cars on the market.

In the full-width frontal crash test, introduced in 2015, the 500 showed poor protection of both the driver and the rear seat passenger. In the Ka+, chest protection was rated as poor. Both cars also lack autonomous braking technology, already offered on half of new models today. The Citroën C3 on the other hand performed much more robustly: it narrowly missed a top five-star rating, falling only just short of the threshold in pedestrian protection.

Euro NCAP’s Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said, “The 500 is an old car by now and the small improvements that FIAT have made on the facelift don’t hide that. Consumers may be better off waiting for the all-new 500 and hope that FIAT will take the opportunity to offer a vehicle that competes on safety with its competitors, as the original did 10 years ago. Unfortunately, high hopes for the segment are smashed by Ford by releasing a brand new Ka+ with mediocre safety performance. The car lacks the more sophisticated restraint systems offered by most of its rivals, let alone more sophisticated technology like autonomous braking. The new C3 shows that a respectful rating is achievable also for superminis.”               

Detailed results and crash test pictures of these cars are published on our website. All videos are available on our YouTube channel. For media requests, please contact Marie Brasseur at media@euroncap.com. More safety ratings will be released on April 12, 2017

BMW tops the nation’s fastest sellers in August with its compact 1 Series Hatchback, SUV's dominate though.

• BMW tops the nation’s fastest sellers in August with its compact 1 Series Hatchback
• Toyota AYGO city car ranks second with its fourth appearance in the top ten in 2016
• But it’s Crossovers that prove the big hit with buyers with five in the UK’s top ten

The BMW 1 Series was the fastest set of wheels off the UK’s forecourts in August.

The 2012 premium hatchback proved a big hit with buyers and in this petrol automatic guise took just an average of 19 days to sell.

Taking second spot is a regular visitor to the UK’s fastest selling cars, the Toyota AYGO. The 2014 model with petrol engine and automatic gearbox took 21 days to find a buyer and this is the fourth time this year the compact city car has made an appearance in the UK’s top ten quickest selling cars.

Meanwhile the Fiat 500L, the larger five-door version of the popular urban runaround, pops up for the second time in the nation’s rapid sellers to rank third. The diesel automatic version took 21 days from forecourt to buyer – the same time as the Toyota AYGO.

It’s Crossovers, however, that dominated the sales charts in August taking five of the top ten spots nationally and were the quickest sellers in seven of the UK’s regions.

Nissan’s Qashqai continues to prove popular as a used buy and makes frequent appearances in the UK’s and regional’s monthly fastest sellers. It’s the rarer seven-seat model, the Qashqai+2, that ranks as the fifth fastest selling car in the UK and takes first place in Yorkshire. The standard five-seat model found was changing hands quickest in the South West and ranked ninth nationally.

The SMMT new car registration data for August echoes the UK top ten fastest selling used cars as the Nissan Qashqai is the tenth most popular new car. What’s more, the new car registrations ranked the Ford Kuga as the ninth best-selling model in the UK. It’s a 2015 Kuga with petrol engine and manual gearbox that ranks as the tenth fastest seller in the country taking 25 days from landing at the showroom to finding a buyer.

Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Retailer and Consumer Products Director said: “Crossovers continue to be highly sought after by buyers as our fastest selling car data and the SMMT’s new car registration figures confirm. But as the UK’s top three fastest selling cars prove it’s not always easy to tell what type of car will always prove popular with consumers. Retailers who place data at the heart of their business will be able to glean insights as to what cars are desirable in their area and where to price them to the market to attract buyers, and these insights can supplement a retailer’s own expertise and knowledge.”

Karolina Edwards-Smajda continues: “With consumers all looking for something different it is difficult to tell which vehicles are particularly in demand in a given location at a given time. Employing data and a scientific approach means you will always know what cars to put on your forecourt and how to price them to attract buyers and sell cars quickly. A faster speed of sale means more profit per car and more sales overall, leading to more sales and more profit in a year.”

Rank*	Description	Average Days to Sell	Average Price Position	Average Retail Price
1	2012 BMW 1 Series Hatchback Petrol Automatic	19	100.10%	£12,999
2	2014 Toyota AYGO Hatchback Petrol Semi-Automatic	21	98.17%	£6,713
3	2013 Fiat 500L Hatchback Diesel Automatic	21	98.75%	£8,024
4	2013 Seat Altea XL MPV Diesel Automatic	22	97.65%	£8,094
5	2013 Nissan Qashqai+2 Hatchback Petrol Automatic	23	99.12%	£14,243
6	2009 Mazda Mazda6 Hatchback Diesel Manual	24	92.87%	£4,133
7	2013 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Diesel Automatic	25	99.87%	£15,920
8	2014 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Diesel Automatic	25	99.70%	£18,459
9	2014 Nissan Qashqai Hatchback Diesel Automatic	25	98.98%	£17,513
10	2015 Ford Kuga SUV Petrol Manual	25	99.44%	£17,201

Users of i-Control took an average time to sell of 28 days versus a market average of 63 days in August. This means those dealerships using our data insights tool now outperform the market by over 55%.

i-Control tracks live market movements, recommends what stock to buy, where to find it, how much to pay for it, and how much to sell it for taking into account regional differences in desirability – and is proven to improve stock turn, as we’ve seen, by nearly 60%.

Using a combination of daily guide prices from over 4,500 dealer websites, the 500,000+ ads on autotrader.co.ukand price data from all major auctions, fleet & lease companies and manufacturers, i-Control provides accurate valuations ensuring retailers’ stock is competitively priced from day one.

*Please note that ranking for fastest selling is based on days to sell and the vehicle count with those cars enjoying the fewest days to sell and the highest vehicle count being ranked highest.

Regional Fastest Sellers

Region	Make/Model	Days to sell
East of England	2015 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SUV Diesel Automatic	26
East Midlands	2015 Nissan Juke Hatchback Diesel Manual	22
London	2012 Ford Galaxy MPV Diesel Automatic	10
North East	2015 Nissan Note Hatchback Petrol Manual	22
North West	2015 Mercedes-Benz A Class Hatchback Diesel Automatic	21
Northern Ireland	2013 Volkswagen Golf Hatchback Diesel Manual	32
Scotland	2015 Hyundai ix35 Estate Diesel Manual	14
South	2013 BMW 3 Series Estate Diesel Automatic	25
South East	2013 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Diesel Automatic	23
South West	2014 Nissan Qashqai Hatchback Diesel Manual	30
Wales	2015 Hyundai i30 Hatchback Diesel Manual	27
West Midlands	2015 Hyundai ix35 Estate Diesel Manual	23
Yorkshire	2013 Nissan Qashqai+2 Hatchback Diesel Manual	20

USA - Fiat's Abarth brand adds the 124 Spider and 500 to Bob Bondurant’s School of High Performance Driving.

• All-new Fiat 124 Spider Abarth and Fiat 500 Abarth join Bondurant’s lineup of high-performance vehicles
• All customers who purchase or lease a Fiat 124 Spider Abarth or Fiat 500 Abarth will receive – for no charge – a one-day session of high-performance driving with professional instruction and time on the track as part of the FIAT package
• Non-FIAT owners can purchase racing instruction through Bondurant and experience the high-performance Abarth models on the track
• FIAT and Bondurant will celebrate this partnership with wrapped FIAT vehicles and displays at enthusiast events this month:
  • Woodward Dream Cruise, Detroit, Michigan (Saturday, August 20)
  • Concorso Italiano, Monterey, California (Saturday, August 20)

The FIAT brand is partnering with the legendary Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving for an all-new Abarth Track Experience, offering owners and fans of the “small but wicked” Abarth models an opportunity to develop their racing and driving skills.

The Fiat 124 Spider Abarth and the Fiat 500 Abarth will join Bondurant’s current lineup of high-performance vehicles as part of the new Fiat Trackside and Road Rally programs, which will be available beginning in November. The 124 Spider Abarth will also be featured in a special race series at Bondurant for Fiat Trackside members.

  

“We have a great relationship with Bob Bondurant, and extending our partnership is an excellent opportunity to provide FIAT fans with the knowledge, skills and setting they need to fully experience the performance that the Abarth models can deliver,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands – Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA – North America. 

“The Fiat 124 Spider Abarth and 500 Abarth join the ranks of the high-performance Dodge Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats and Viper models that are already part of Bondurant’s fleet, adding to the ‘fun-to-drive’ factor and bringing the Abarth name to a new group of performance enthusiasts.”

Bondurant’s new Fiat Trackside driving program, featuring the 500 Abarth and 124 Spider Abarth, includes an introduction to the FIAT brand and classroom instruction. 

Guests will then join in instructor-led skid, slalom, auto-cross and team rally cross activities, as well as hot laps. The optional second day “Road Rally” is an all-inclusive program that begins at the Bondurant facility. 

The 180- to 220-mile rally includes a morning coffee break, followed by an array of scenic Arizona highways and a private lunch before participants return to the Bondurant School.

“We’re excited that FIAT will join our team to expand our driving programs,” said Bob Bondurant, owner and CEO of Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. “The Fiat 500 Abarth and 124 Spider Abarth will make great additions to our amazing lineup. 

The capabilities of the Fiat coupe and roadster will give people the chance to get behind the wheel of balanced performance vehicles that are as fun to drive on the track as they are during a daily commute.”

FIAT customers who purchase or lease a Fiat 124 Spider Abarth or Fiat 500 Abarth have one year from their purchase or lease date to take advantage of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving opportunity, which is offered at no charge. 

For more information, to register or to verify whether a particular vehicle qualifies, please visit www.abarthexperience.com.

The all-new 2017 Fiat 124 Spider revives the storied nameplate, bringing its classic Italian styling and performance to a new generation. 

Paying homage to the original 124 Spider nearly 50 years after its introduction, the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider delivers the ultimate Italian roadster experience with driving excitement, technology and safety combined with iconic design. 

The 2017 Fiat 124 Spider Abarth features the proven turbocharged 1.4-liter MultiAir four-cylinder engine, delivering 164 horsepower and 184 lb.-ft. of torque. 

The Abarth-exclusive Sport Mode changes the calibrations of the engine, automatic transmission, electric power steering and dynamic stability control system to ensure a sporty, responsive and performance-oriented driving experience.

A mechanical limited slip differential, featuring a low torque bias ratio, provides improved traction and handling, as well as improved launch performance and power delivery during cornering. 

The Abarth’s unique sport suspension includes mono-tube Bilstein front and rear shock absorbers for increased traction and more precise handling. 

The available Brembo braking system with 17-inch alloy wheels offers monoblock aluminum calipers with four pistons, allowing for improved braking.

Pricing for the all-new 2017 Fiat 124 Spider, the most affordable turbo-powered convertible in the U.S., starts at $24,995 U.S. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP), not including destination. The high-performance 124 Spider Abarth starts at $28,195 U.S. MSRP.