If you want to sell product, throwing a little sex into the mix generally works well to attract consumers. Take Fiat’s hugely popular ad for the 500 Abarth, entitled “Seduction,” which inspires all of us to wander the streets of our respective cities, cappuccino in hand, looking for an Italian supermodel and a 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth.

While the ad may be too spicy for the delicate sensibilities of the American television-viewing audience, it’s proven to be just fine for VH1, who’s given it the Pop-Up-Video treatment. Proving that you can learn stuff from TV, we now know that the hapless office drone is played by Matthew Rocheleau, the spot was directed by Luca Maroni (a big name in commercial production), and the supermodel-with-the-scorpion-tattoo is played by Catrinel Menghia.

Menghia, as it turns out, isn’t even Italian. The 26-year-old model hails from Romania,  but learned Italian via her husband, former soccer star Massimo Brambati. In case you were wondering, the slap that Ms. Menghia delivered to of Mr. Rocheleau took some 50 takes (and 50 slaps) to get right; nonetheless, we still would have signed up for the role.

Our own Richard Read even tracked down a translation of Menghia’s dialogue for The Car Connection, and it’s roughly: “What are you looking at? Hey, what are you looking at? Are you undressing me with your eyes? Poor guy, you just can’t help it, can you? Is your heart racing? Is your head spinning? Do you feel lost thinking that I could be yours forever?

The answer, of course, is yes, but we’re pretty smitten with the Fiat 500 Abarth, too. In the long run, it will be much more affordable to maintain than a relationship with a Romanian supermodel.

 

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