Fiat’s new ‘extended’ 500L adds a new dimension to the Italian carmaker’s popular small car and is headed to the US.
Brand chief Olivier Francois said: “The 500 is all about simplicity, design and coolness and giving the car additional room opens it up to a wider market.”
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The L stands for large and it is the new addition to the 500 range following the Abarth and Cabrio versions.
Olivier said the 500L is the new interpretation of the ‘Simply More’ philosophy Fiat applied to the Multispace concept. It was designed to achieve better external visibility and a large amount of internal light via the glazing that runs all around the car. The glass roof is the largest in its category. There is also an increase in cargo-carrying capacity.
The 500L will be introduced in Europe in the last quarter of this year and Olivier noted it would follow its smaller sibling across the Atlantic to the US market.
Fiat has already admitted that it got the roll-out of the Mexican-built 500 wrong in the US by not having enough dealers but things are improving.
He said: “The 500L will be launched there next year and sales over the past three months of the original model have been very encouraging. We now have 140 dealers across the country and February saw our best month so far in terms of sales.”
Sales of the new Panda, launched at the end of last year, have also been good and the all-wheel-drive version will be added in July.
Will there be a high performance Abarth variant of the Panda? “We are discussing a sporty version of the car,” said Olivier, “but we haven’t decided whether it will be badged Abarth.”
He admitted the European market is tough in terms of sales with Spain and Italy looking particularly gloomy.
“We have also seen a slow-down in France although the UK and Germany are still performing well for us. The small A and B segments are getting very complicated in terms of the price war that is going on between manufacturers.”
