U.S. Fiat 500 To Get New Platform
Mar 17, 2010 - By Chris Weiss
After a long, near-three-decade absence from the States, Fiat is celebrating its return with a new platform for the U.S. 500. The Fiat being built in Mexico for the U.S. market will make use of the platform that currently underpins the Fiat Panda.
The situation arose because Fiat had not yet put together the Mexican plant when the Panda platform became available. Thus, the company was able to design the plant, which will begin production in late 2010, around the platform while the European plant will not yet be ready for the upgrade to the new platform.
The Panda platform offers increased structural integrity and lower weight. GM and Fiat are also mulling a change in name from 500 to ‘Cinquecento’ (Italian for 500).
Frankly, we don’t really care all too much about the intra-corporate going-ons that were behind the switch, we’re just amused by the idea of the U.S. getting a new Fiat model before Europe. [via LeftLaneNews]