The 500C, which curiously retains the overall design language of the Polish-built version, rather than following the Toluca, Mexico-assembled coupé, but with North American-engineered bumpers and a differently pressed bootlid, was introduced for its stateside debut at a press conference at the New York show by Head of Fiat North America, Laura Soave.

The 500 Cabrio in the U.S. (it would appear to be known as a mix of 500 Cabrio and 500c "lower case" in U.S. press releases) will kick off at US$19,500 for the entry level "Pop" version, a full US$4,000 premium over the fixed-roof version (Smart, by comparison, tacks on a US$3,000 for its soft-top).

It is a significant price hike versus the close-roof version and it would appear that Fiat hasn't learnt the lessons of the 500C's efforts in Europe where a too high price premium meant that the electric roll-roofed version simply never took off. The "Pop" comes in the U.S. comes with a somewhat spartan specification level such as steel wheels, no climate control, chromed-finished trims or automatic climate control, and only the option of the manual transmission (although, this is likely to be added shortly, as has been the case with the fixed-roof 500 Pop where Fiat North America quickly backtracked).

To get the second available version with the Aisin 'box, the 500 "Lounge", customers have to pay another US$4,000 with official pricing - 'suggested' says Fiat - at US$23,500.

The 500C "Pop" comes comes with manual transmission, 15-inch steel wheels with plastic wheel trims and all-season tyes, seven standard air bags, air conditioning, AM/FM/CD/MP3 radio with auxiliary audio input, chromed exhaust tailpipe, power windows, power door locks, power heated mirrors, speed control, Blue&Me with USB port, eco:Drive and iPod control capability, leather steering wheel with audio controls, Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) with trip computer, miles-to-empty, average fuel economy and tyre-pressure monitoring display (TPM). The 500 Pop will be priced at US$19,500 when it arrives in the showrooms in the "late spring".

The stateside 500C "Lounge" will come with the U.S. market-specific Aisin six-speed automatic transmission with driver-selectable gear changes, chrome trims on the front and rear bumpers, chromed door mirror cover, fog lamps, 15-inch aluminum wheels with all-season tyres, upgraded cloth seats, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, automatic climate control, and BOSE Energy Efficient Series audio system with six premium speakers and subwoofer and security alarm. The 500 Lounge is priced at US$23,500. The leather package will be around US$1,250.

The Toluca, Mexico-built, U.S. market 500C will come, like the coupé version with 14 paint colours available in normal, metallic and tri-coat pearl finishes, while there are three available cloth top colours. Without a "Sport" version inserted into the 500C range, this version will miss out on the sports seats and other interior trim finishers associated with this model in the coupé's version. There are two interior colours Nero (Black) or Avorio (Ivory) and 12 seat colours. The usual range of additional accessories will be marketed by Mopar through the dealerships.

The U.S. market 500C is now available to be configured on the Fiat USA website, although the half hearted nature of the Fiat 500's on-going North America launch is graphically laid out by the official website which is the result of very little effort (such as a Euro-spec 500 coupé used in the configurator, confusingly with wing reflectors added on) and not the ideal way for potential customers to make an early interaction with what is a new brand to this market. As the stateside launch of the 500 stutters along Soave said at the press conference that 40 dealers (of the planned 130) are now able to sell cars, she was also curiously quoted by Freep as admitting that "The longest any car has sat on the lot is 19 days, which is one of the fastest turning times," actually quite a surprisingly long time to be holding stock for an anticipated new model where the supply is scant.