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Fiat will use 500 ‘Giardinetta’ wagon as basis for AWD variant

 
5 8,520 views May 28, 2009

One of the first Fiat products to hit the U.S. is likely to be the 500 minicar, which is being considered for local production

One of the first Fiat products to hit the U.S. is likely to be the 500 minicar, which is being considered for local production

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Fiat will be bringing an AWD variant of its acclaimed 500 minicar to market in an effort to compete with the slew of recently launched and upcoming models from Mini. The Italian carmaker will release a car next year with a distinct wagon-like appearance, which we previewed earlier in our story on the Fiat 500 Giardinetta. Part of the reason for launching a larger version of the 500 is due to the release of Mini's Clubman, which the 500 Giardinetta will hope to steal sales away from. The new AWD variant, based on the Giardinetta, will go up against Mini’s own upcoming crossover.

This AWD Fiat 500 will use the same 4WD system used in the Panda 4x4 hatch, with which the 500 already shares its platform. This should help keep development costs fairly low, and this in turn will mean a better deal for customers when it appears in showrooms late next year.

Previous reports speculated that Fiat will be trying to sell around 32,000 units of the Giardinetta globally every year, and when the car finally arrives it should see Mini looking at least a little concerned with its added functionality.

If you can't wait until next year to get your hands on a wagon variant of the Fiat 500, you can check out this example produced by Italian coach-builder Castagna. Nicknamed the Woody Wagon (thanks to its wood trimmings), that model was 30cm longer than the production Fiat 500 and should give a good indication as to what the actual Giardinetta model could look like.



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Comments (5)

  1. By Steve Posted: 1/29/2008 3:20pm PST

    I don't what you said but a Fiat 500 SUV would be hideous! Note to Western Europeans: We actually got the memo! We no longer associate bigger with better! If we did Ford would be rolling in money right now instead of bleeding it. Yes there's still a lot of SUV's on the road but their sales have dived dramatically. Please Fiat, the reason we would buy your cars is bacause of their small size, brilliant design, and better fuel economy. Honestly, if you sell an SUV here you might as well be digging your own grave.
     
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  2. ma_Chris avatar Chris Posted: 12/24/2008 1:42am PST

    maybe its just me but isnt ford doing great in europe?

    and a sub compact SUV is going to get that much worse mileage than the original car? with all of 100 lbs difference?

    why is it that i get the impression that steve is actually an american who thinks ford sells just as many 3 ton SUVs in europe as they do in america?


    onto the actual car... why are we giving sub-compacts a little more ground clearance, AWD, and calling them SUVs? why cant we just call them the same damned thing... little cars... with 4 drive wheels? where is the UTILITY in a sub compact? dont get me wrong,. i'll likely never own anything bigger than a focus.. and ive used my focus hatch to move a lot of crap before. but i would hardly call it utility.
     
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  3. ma_NoNameDenton avatar NoNameDenton Posted: 12/24/2008 3:17am PST

    Be like the Mini SUV
     
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  4. ma_NaBUru38 avatar NaBUru38 Posted: 12/24/2008 11:43am PST

    Agree with Chris' comments. Fiat already sells a soft-roader: the Sedici is a rebadged Suzuki SX4 and no gas guzzler. The 500 wagon should be clearly smaller than it. But Fiat needs a C-segment soft-roader too, since the Tiguan, Kuga, Qashqai, Rav4 and CR-V are selling too well.
     
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  5. ma_NoNameDenton avatar NoNameDenton Posted: 5/28/2009 5:18pm PDT

    Agree with Chris' comments. Fiat already sells a soft-roader: the Sedici is a rebadged Suzuki SX4 and no gas guzzler. The 500 wagon should be clearly smaller than it. But Fiat needs a C-segment soft-roader too, since the Tiguan, Kuga, Qashqai, Rav4 and CR-V are selling too well.

    What you named would be bigger in size then this
     
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