Fiat announces special-edition 500 Anniversario

FIAT has announced that 60 examples of the 500 hatch Anniversario edition have landed in Australian showrooms, priced from $21,990 plus on-roads for the six-speed manual.

Nine examples of the manual are coming Down Under, with the other 51 examples consisting of the five-speed ‘Dualogic’ automatic, which sets buyers back $23,490.

Sixty years ago marked the debut of the 500 Cinquecento model at Fiat’s production facility in Turin, Italy, and now the Italian brand has brought one example of the special vehicle for each year it has existed.

Based on the 500 Lounge grade, the Anniversario comes with a number of extra features, and has been designed to evoke the style of the 1960s.

Additional equipment includes the choice of two retro colours – Riviera Green and Sicilia Orange in addition to the exiting Gelato White – new seats with horizontal striped fabric, contrast piping and embroidered 500 logo, chrome accents on the bonnet and mirror caps, vintage Fiat logos, Anniversario embroidered floor mats and build plaque, and 16-inch vintage-style alloy wheels.

The Anniversario also gains the standard equipment offered in the top-spec Lounge, including a 5.0-inch Uconnect touchscreen infotainment panel, Bluetooth connectivity and radio navigation.

Power comes from an aspirated 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that develops 51kW of power at 5500rpm and 102Nm of torque at 3000rpm, with outputs being sent to the front wheels.

Head of Fiat Brand Australia Fulvio Antonelli said the tradition of popular special editions would be continued by the Anniversario.

“We’re genuinely excited at the arrival of the Fiat 500 Anniversario special edition,” he said.

“Our Fiat 500 special edition variants have historically proven extremely popular and we expect that with only 60 vehicles available, the Anniversario will be no different as it represents a great value proposition for a piece of automotive history.”To the end of October, the Fiat 500/Abarth 595 has sold 704 units, making it the slowest-selling model in the micro car segment following the deletion of the Suzuki Celerio.

704 units represents a 30.4 per cent slide over the 1011 it managed to the same point last year, and slightly outpaces the decline of the micro car segment (down 28.1 per cent).

It trails segment leaders such as the Kia Picanto (2749), Mitsubishi Mirage (1268) and Holden Spark (934).

2017 Fiat 500 Anniversario pricing*

Anniversario	$21,990
Anniversario (a)	$23,490

*Excludes on-road costs