I thought this was a great article. It kind of starts out as a puff piece... but it morphs into a very informative article.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :thumbup:
I really like the explanation of the cup holders:lol:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-05-31-fiat-500-comes-to-america_n.htm
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :thumbup:
I really like the explanation of the cup holders:lol:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-05-31-fiat-500-comes-to-america_n.htm
Caitlin Hemby, 16, hasn't driven much. Robert Latimer, 88, has. Both wanted Fiat 500 minicars and bought the first two sold by Fiat of Lakeside in Macomb Township, Mich., near Detroit.
Latimer is a retired Chrysler modeler and prototype maker who farms several hundred acres near Richmond, Mich., northeast of Detroit. His interest was piqued by what he'd read about the 500, so, he says, in March, "When they opened the dealership I went down to buy one."
Now, says the 6-foot-tall Latimer, "I make plans to go where I don't even want to go, just to drive it."
Hemby was to get her first car as a birthday present last September, but says she waited for the 500's arrival in March because she couldn't find anything else with the Fiat's blend of fuel efficiency and charming looks.
"I love driving it," says the 5-foot-2-inch-tall junior at Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Mich. "If I were a car, this is what I'd be."
A short teen new to driving and a tall farmer who's a veteran of everything from Harley-Davidson motorcycles to trucks and tractors — Fiat U.S. chief Laura Soave hopes that range is not a quirk, but rather a measure of the 500's broad appeal.
It needs to be broad. The little car, which starts at $16,000 and is the first Fiat sold in the U.S. since 1983, is the foundation for the Italian brand's return.
"The 500 sets the stage," Soave says. More has been done with less. Volkswagen began in the U.S. selling two Beetles in 1949. Still, Fiat's return is fragile.
The 500 is the entire Fiat brand here for a while, so "if the 500 flops, then I think the brand flops," says IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland. Fiat runs Chrysler Group, thanks to its 2009 deal with the U.S. in the Chrysler bailout, and is operating Fiat here as a Chrysler brand. It plans to blend the two companies' lines, and dealers hope also to see Fiat Auto's Alfa-Romeo brand in the U.S. "sooner than anybody thinks, maybe within a year," says Carl Galeana, who owns the Fiat of Lakeside "studio," as Fiat calls its stores. About 60 dealers are open; 130 soon, 160 eventually.
And it all rests for now on the little 500. Fiat plans to sell 50,000 a year, half the production of the Toluca, Mexico, plant that makes the Fiat for the Americas.
To keep the pot boiling, a convertible version is going on sale now. And Soave says an "Abarth" high-
performance model and an electric version will be coming next year.
Initial enthusiasm from buyers and reviewers has made the 500 "a tiny little 'halo' car. Now there's reason for optimism toward more Fiats and the forthcoming Fiat-based small cars from Chrysler," says Jason Allan, a managing editor at auto researcher Kelley Blue Book. A halo car is one so popular that the brand's other vehicles bask in its reflected glory and are easier to sell.
"The Fiat 500 doesn't have to be a huge sales success," he says. "It just has to stay cute and prove to be a quality product."
The current 500 — smaller than a Mini Cooper— went on sale in Europe in 2007, two years before Fiat took over Chrysler in its government-supervised bankruptcy reorganization.
Redesigning the European 500 for the U.S. took nearly two years, and a sum Fiat won't disclose.
Fabio DiMuro, chief engineer of the 500, is proud to detail the stem-to-stern changes. Modifications were driven by two needs, he says: meet U.S. safety rules and satisfy U.S. buyers, who won't put up with an unrefined car just because it's cute, fun or fuel-efficient.
As a result, he says, even though the U.S. version looks like the European 500, most things are different, from a new engine that's both more fuel-efficient and more powerful, to a newly padded and lined cargo area to prevent Americans from having a "cheap car" reaction when they lift the hatchback.
"A lot of differences, but we tried to keep the driving feel the same," he says, and the retro look.
Beyond the modifications, the reliability will have to meet American expectations, or "it is a cute small car that will sell fairly well in its first couple of years, then may slip as its novelty wears off," says David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports magazine's auto testing.
The extensive modifications illustrate Fiat's seriousness about pleasing U.S. customers.
But it also shows how many parts' specifications are dictated by government regulations and how some U.S. and European rules are very close — just 0.12 of an inch difference in required taillight size, for example — but still require costly changes to satisfy the U.S. rulebook.
Here is DiMuro's walkthrough of key changes to the U.S. version:
•Engine. The 1.4-liter four-cylinder is the first in the U.S. with Fiat's MultiAir technology. It's rated 30 miles per gallon in town, 38 highway vs. the Euro-version's 27/34 in the same tests.
Instead of a conventional mechanical camshaft, MultiAir uses sensors in each cylinder linked to hydraulic mechanisms that change the cylinder's intake-valve settings instantly to match conditions and offer more power, better mileage and lower emissions.
Still, it doesn't provide the 40-mpg highway rating that's become a litmus test. Bigger, heavier cars, such as the Hyundai Elantra and Chevrolet Cruze Eco, are government-rated 40 mpg or more.
•Transmission. A sophisticated six-speed gearbox considered more refined than the automatic used in Europe, where it's less important because buyers favor manual transmissions.
•Rear axle. A remarkable 300% stiffer than the European model, allowing more flexible springs for a more comfortable ride. DiMuro says it works so well it's going into European cars soon.
•Seats. Total overhaul to add an armrest to the driver's seat, change to U.S.-spec head restraints and simplify the tip-and-slide function that allows access to the back seat.
•Cup holders. A silly matter to Europeans, vital to Americans. The U.S. 500 has an enlarged pod of holders up front to fit U.S.-size drinks, instead of the small European holders, plus two additional holders at the rear of the floor console.
DiMuro says the in-car beverage concept is so foreign to Europeans that the 500 team didn't understand his exhortations for more and bigger holders — until one of his engineers drew a cartoon of an American wearing one of those gimmick hats that hold two beer cans and have long tubes as straws.
"Then everybody said, 'Ah, yes.'"
•Tires. Americans consider all-season tires a must, and that's what the U.S. 500 has. Europeans keep two sets: snow tires and regular-tread tires.
•Glove compartment. Reconfigured and given a door for the U.S., in part to meet crash-safety rules that disallow the Euro-market model's open shelf. European regulations assume occupants wear safety belts, while U.S. regs assume unbelted occupants (despite laws requiring belt use), so forbid many edges and protrusions.
•Headlights. They look similar, but required a "complete redesign," DiMuro says, because the way they are arrayed in Europe is illegal in the U.S.
•Fuel-filler door. Moved 1.2 inches forward for better rear-crash protection required by U.S. regulations that don't exist elsewhere. Unseen but also required: more robust fuel-filler parts.
•Fuel tank. Enlarged from 10.6 to 14.5 gallons for longer distances typical in the U.S.
•Spare tire. Relocated from the cargo area to under the vehicle to allow a steel cargo floor that meets U.S. rear-crash standards.
•Taillights. Lenses get an additional 3 mm of length at the bottom (about 0.12 inches) to satisfy U.S. rules requiring slightly bigger lens area.
•Insulation. Lots more in the U.S. car, to keep it quiet enough for Americans. Foam in body cavities, different glass, different shrouding around the engine make the interior quieter than in the European model.
And that led to more changes. "The moment we started to reduce the noise in the cabin we started to hear other things" such as wind noise, says DiMuro. So around the hatchback opening and lower door openings got additional seals.
"Americans expect more refinement, even in small cars," DiMuro says.
Maintaining its European flair
But Fiat also tried to keep some things the same. Americans equate European brands with a taut, responsive driving character, and Fiat believes it has to deliver that — as well as fashionable styling — to lure and keep buyers.
"Everything we do must have a certain look and feel that's European. We are a European brand," Soave says. Since most European cars are much more expensive than the Fiat, she hopes people will see the 500, and eventually other Fiats, as an affordable way to have the panache she believes is associated with European brands.
A hint that it might work that way: She says that at a mall near Detroit, the parking valet insisted on parking her 500 out front, as valets do with cars they think will draw attention.
"When I came back," Soave says, "he had it parked head-to-head with a Ferrari. They were even both gray.
"Perfect."
