Fiat’s revived, retro-look 500 has been named car of the year (COTY) by an international jury of 58 journalists with 385 votes, ahead of the Mazda 2 (325) and the Ford Mondeo (202).
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The tiny Fiat also drew votes from most members of the jury with 57 of 58 including it in their short-list while 33 selected it top of their personal rankings.
This is the second time – the first was the Fiat Panda in 2004 – that an A segment model has won this particular COTY award and takes the Fiat Group Automobiles tally to 12: the 124 (1967), 128 (1970), 127 (1972), Lancia Delta (1980), Fiat Uno (1984), Tipo (1989), Punto (1995), Bravo/Brava (1996), Alfa Romeo 156 (1998), 147 (2001), Fiat Panda (2004) and 500 (2008).
Fiat launched the car last 4 July and took 105,000 orders in only four months in just two markets – Italy and France.
The car was launched in Germany a few weeks ago and 6,300 orders have now been taken there.
The 500 is now second top seller in the European A segment with market share of 14.1% behind the Panda (21.2%).
The international COTY award began in 1964. To be considered, new models must have been sold in at least five different European markets throughout the year. They are judged on design, comfort, safety, economic operation, driveability, performance, practicality, respect for the environment, price and value for money.
A first selection is made from all the new models marketed in the course of the year (33 this year) and seven finalists selected for the final poll. Each journalist has 25 points to distribute among the seven cars with a maximum of 10 for the first choice.
An award ceremony, organised this year by German magazine Stern, will take place in Berlin on 28 January.
