KEY POINTS:
It's shaping up to be the most elaborate car launch in New Zealand automotive history; a made-to-measure marketing extravaganza designed to entice new Fiat 500 buyers to dress up the car they want - before it is built.
The three-door 500, a bigger reincarnation of the original 1957
two-door model, is due to go on sale here in March, priced from an official $26,990.
And it will be available with a mile-long list of Fiat factory options designed to make the 500 stand out from the crowd.
One of the many tailor-made accessories is a car cover that fits snugly over the new model but is dyed red to look exactly like the original Fiat 500 of 50 years ago.
Another add-on is a decal kit similar to that used on the Ferrari Formula One cars (Ferrari is owned by the Fiat Group).
There is an iPod holder and a perfume dispenser, three different exterior luggage kits and racks, seven different alloy wheels with the choice of hub colours and 14 different upholstery options, including leather.
One of the 10 available badges is in the form of a bar code, stamped 04/07/07 - the date the new Fiat 500 was offically launched in Italy.
It arrived 50 years to the day after the original Fiat 500's appearance in Turin on July 4, 1957, and to "probably the largest national celebration ever seen for a new car in Italy". Streets were blocked in 30 Italian cities to all cars except the Fiat "Cinquecento" (500).
Fiat dealers in New Zealand later this month will be able to log on to a factory website where buyers can customise their car.
"It's an internet-based ordering system," says Laurie Malatios, the general manager of Fiat importers Ateco Automotive NZ. "It's not available on the fiat.co.nz website, only at Fiat dealers.
"Buyers will be able to explore all the options and sign off on the pricing of their customised car. The dealers will forward the order to us at head office and we will get the factory in Turin to build that specific car."
Fiat in New Zealand and Australia put the ordering system in place to avoid being saddled with limited 500 models. Orders in before the end of November will be built first.
"The reason for the system is twofold," says Edward Rowe, Ateco's Sydney-based public affairs boss.
"Firstly, demand for the 500 in Europe is such that it sold out in a matter of weeks, even after another 20,000 units were added to the build run for 2007.
"That means the allocation for Australia and New Zealand will be very much fixed.
"Secondly, the plethora of options allows the cars to be tailored to individual specifications. When the first run of cars for Australia and New Zealand goes down the line early in the new year, we would like them to be built to specific customer requirements, not what we think customers would like."
Buyers here and across the ditch will also have access to the complete range of front-mounted engines - 1.2 and 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol units and a 1.3-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel. The original 500 was first powered by a 9.7kW 479cc two-cylinder air-cooled unit in the rear.
The 16-valve 1.4-litre engine delivers 73.5kW, or around 100bhp. The 1.2-litre produces a more modest 51kW (70bhp) and the diesel puts out 55kW. All three engines meet Euro5 CO2 emissions regulations, which don't officially come into effect until 2009.
The 500 will spearhead a push by Fiat to produce cars with the lowest average CO2 emissions among European carmakers by 2012. CEO Sergio Marchionne says the new aim is part of the firm's greener strategy.
Future versions are expected to feature Fiat's ground-breaking new two-cylinder motor as well.
The 900cc twin powerplant is likely to deliver a 20 per cent improvement in fuel economy over the 1.2-litre version.
The new car seats four. It comes in three-door guise only and measures 3.55m long, 1.65m wide and 1.49m tall - roughly the same size as a Citroen C2. Its size is disguised somewhat by bulked-up panels, with a pronounced crease running down the shoulder. Fiat says the glass roof panel lets plenty of light into the cabin.
The original 500 was much smaller, with seating for two up front and sardine-type seating for two in the back.
The new 500 comes with seven airbags, one of the reasons why it picked up a five-star crashworthiness rating from the EuroNCAP test body. The crash safety group even praised Fiat for providing safety features than enabled the 500 to score higher than some bigger cars. Fiat indicated it would mount a massive marketing campaign for the 500 when earlier this year it launched the first images of the car's badge on salt and pepper shakers. Fiat borrowed the promotional idea from Mini. It chose the condiment package to point out that there would two versions of the car: the mainstream model carrying stylised 500 badges and a go-fast variant wearing the Abarth scorpion logo.
It revealed the 500 badge on the salt shaker and the "hot" Abarth moniker on the pepper pot.
Abarth is Fiat's performance arm and is already trialling the go-fast version at Germany's Nurburgring circuit
The new 500 badge appears fore and aft and is repeated on each wheel hub and embossed on the chrome-finished handle for the bootlid.
Options include: eight different decal packs in two colours giving 19 different combinations; nine different colours and designs of car keys; two different body kits (sport and chrome); an Italian flag badge on the front guards; chrome trim for the mirrors and bumpers; sun roof; dashboard colour matched to all 12 exterior colours, or in a contrasting colour; white, black or dark brown steering wheel and gear shift; matching or contrasting colours on the centre console and the instrument panel; bluetooth communications and upgraded audio packages.
And there's a car cover too, of course.
