Happy Birthday Fiat 500! The runabout was officially launched amid much pomp and circumstance on July 4, 2007, in a high-profile Turin gala.

Over the weekend Athens, Budapest, Copenhagen, London (photos, right), Milan, Munich, Palermo, Paris, Rome, Rotterdam, Tokyo, Valencia, Hel, Liège, Zurich, and Cape Town were all chosen cities that, either in parks or on beaches, welcomed thousands of people brought together by a common passion for this new car.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest accomplishments of Fiat’s one-year-old 500 supermini is winning the coveted European Car of the Year 2008 trophy. Offering retro looks in a car of timeless appeal, the Fiat 500 won 385 points against the second-ranked Mazda2, that finished with 60 points less. The Ford Mondeo was third, with 202 points, with the other finalists well behind.
 
Beyond its reality as a practical urban car, it was clear from its inception that the retro-chic 500 has enormous public appeal. Everybody, especially in Italy, loved it well before it would go on sale. This cute car copies the aesthetics of the legendary 500 of half a century ago, but it is a modern vehicle in functionality and safety features, reasonably roomy for its size and shape, and with efficient engines that provide performance and economy. With a better noise insulation, one would even venture into longer road journeys.
 
The Fiat 500 already sports a bulging trophy case featuring a number of other industry awards including ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Automobile’ title and ‘Auto Europa 2008’. Crucially, the Fiat 500 is packed with state-of-the-art technology, winning industry-wide recognition for its safety performance and environmental credentials.
 
Late last year, the Fiat 500 was voted the winner of the prestigious EuroCarBody prize. The forum, grouping around 600 experts in car body development, manufacturing and assembly, were particularly impressed by the contribution of the 500’s innovative bodyshell to winning a 5-star Euro NCAP rating (with a total score of 35 points) and high marks in insurance crash tests: a feat that puts the Fiat 500 at the top of its class in safety and is all the more remarkable considering that the car is a mere three and a half meters long.
 
The 500 supermini will also be the first Fiat model to offer a stop-start system that cuts the engine in traffic jams or at traffic lights. The technology will be available to buyers as one of the vehicle’s standard equipment features. Stop-start technology helps to significantly improve a vehicle’s fuel consumption and lower its CO2 emissions in city driving.
 
The popularity of the Fiat 500 is also reflected by the model’s current sales figures. More than 112,000 customers are already driving the 500 along the roads of 70 countries worldwide, while another 100,000 are due to join them in the coming months.

In Italy, the key market for the 500, January-June sales reached 52,158 units, making Fiat’s supermini the third most-sold car model there behind the Grande Punto and the Panda. European-wide sales figures show that over 50% of the people opting for a Fiat 500 have migrated from other brands. In Germany, the figure is as high as 70%. This year, Fiat Auto Poland’s Tychy plant is expected to make 190,000 units of the Fiat 500.

Report: Samar