The Italian firm is sticking to the Fiat 500's humble roots by pitching the car at well under Mini prices when it goes on sale in Britain in January.
The cute Italian hatchback has long been tipped to match the Mini as a 'premium' product with pricing to match. But the prices announced by Fiat UK are lower than expected. The cheapest 500, the 1.2-litre, 69bhp Pop model, will cost £7900 on the road, almost £500 less than the 1.2-litre, 75bhp Renault TWingo. And the top-of-the-range 1.4-litre 500 Lounge - which gets air conditioning, alloy wheels, glass roof and a hands-free media system - costs £10,700. By contrast, even the basic 94bhp Mini One costs £11,625, and it lacks air-con on its standard kit list.
There's no price increase for diesel models, either; the 1.3-litre MultiJet models cost the same as the 1.4-litre petrols.
The new pricing is further proof of Fiat's renewed confidence; the company reported last week that its quarterly profits had more than doubled year on year, and it has more than tripled the percentage profit on every car it makes.
