Spicier Fiat 500 coming to take on VW Beetle

Fiat 500 will be relaunched with more options

Inspite of bearing a lower price tag than the VW Beetle, (Rs 14.82 lakhs as opposed to the Beetle’s 20.45), the Fiat 500 hasn’t quite managed to set the sales charts on fire the way the Beetle has managed to. Taking the present status into account, Fiat India have devised a plan to relaunch the 500 in the next few months. There will be new variants and more customisation options. We may even be able to see the Convertible 500 coming to India.

The 500 could even come with a 900cc Turbocharged Twinair engine producing 105bhp. Read more on that here.

Fiat sold just 68 units of the 500 since its launch in 2008 while VW has sold over 300 Beetles since its launch in November 2009. The 500 right now is only available with a 1.3 Multijet diesel producing an adequate 75bhp. A more powerful 1.4L or 1.6L engine with over 100bhp is what the 500 needs to take the fight to the Beetle. A wider range of accessories and personalisations will further add to the appeal. The 500 is already cheaper than the Beetle by a fair amount meaning Fiat are already ahead on this front.

“Retro cars with distinctive looks are a big hit and that’s what we would capture in our new campaign to be rolled out in a few months,” said Fiat Auto India CEO Rajeev Kapoor. “We have a clear price advantage and will play it to our customers with various options for the product,” Mr Kapoor said.