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Italian Pride Is Revived in a Tiny Fiat

Following in the tire tracks of the latter-day Beetle from Volkswagen and the Mini Cooper from BMW, Fiat this month began selling an updated version of the classic 500 of 1957, according to the New York Times.

At 11 feet 6 inches in length, it is about 4 inches shorter than the Ka, Ford’s tiny runabout, but 18 inches longer than the original 500.

More than a year before the car arrived, Fiat started marketing it as a return to everybody’s childhood. In Italy, advertisements appealed to patriotism, with slogans like, “The new Fiat belongs to all of us.”

In less than a month, Fiat has sold more than 57,000 of the cars.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:31 AM to Design | Permalink

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