Fiat 500 slashed to $18,800

FIAT has slashed the price of its 500 light-car as part of an aggressive pricing restructure and brand expansion for its passenger car range in Australia.

The 500 range now kicks off from $18,800 for the two-cylinder 500 TwinAir with manual gearbox, down from $22,990 – a price cut of $4190.

Pricing with Fiat’s semi-automatic transmission is now $20,300, down from $24,990.

Fiat Alfa Romeo director Rob Moorcroft also confirmed a new entry-level variant, called the 500 Pop, will also be added to the line-up later in the year.

Pricing has not been announced, but given it will slide into the range under the TwinAir, it could be offered from as low as $15,000.

Getting into the 500 Cabrio in manual guise will now set you back $21,200, a reduction of $4790.

The biggest price reduction in the Fiat 500 range is for the semi-automatic version of the Cabrio which is reduced by $5290 from $27,990 to the new price of $22,700.

The new entry price for the 500 Cabrio makes it the cheapest convertible on the Australian market, just edging out the Smart Fortwo Cabrio that retails for $22,990.

Specifications for each variant remain the same, with the only difference being the sticker price.

The announcement came at the same time as Fiat’s re-positioning and brand expansion of its second Italian brand, Alfa Romeo.

While Fiat’s passenger car pricing has come in for an overhaul, the company confirmed that pricing for its Fiat Professional commercial range, which includes the Scudo and Ducato vans, will not change.

Pricing for the 500 Abarth also remains the same for now, but looks set to come down later in the year.

Although the Fiat Chrysler Group took over distributorship of both Fiat and Alfa Romeo from private importer Ateco in May last year, they had been unable to comment on the future product and pricing plans until after February 1 this year because of a deal with Ateco.

Mr Moorcroft said that the repositioning of Fiat in Australia will change buyer’s perceptions of the brand.

“(Fiat and Alfa Romeo) have always been two sexy brands, iconic brands but never had the volume and let’s face it, they weren’t cheap,” he said.

“They weren’t on everyone’s shopping list. Yes they are a European car which has some benefit, but they were just all positioned wrong. Today is about where we position the cars, where we price the cars, where we think they will move forward to.” Mr Moorcroft said that the brand had no choice but to grow in Australia, given its current limited line-up.

“You can’t do volume with two or three vehicles, it just doesn’t work,” he said.

Hailing the 500 as “the car that saved Fiat,” Mr Moorcroft said that the price of the Bambino meant that it wasn’t competing in the light car segment – until now.

“At $22,990, you can buy a lot of cars under that with similar spec. At $18,800RRP, I think it falls in there. Is it as low as we wanted to get it? Probably not, but we still think it is positioned to do fairly well,” he said.

The changes to the Fiat pricing come into effect this month.

Fiat pricing:*

500 TwinAir	$18,800 (-$4190)
500 TwinAir (a)	$20,300 (-$4690)
500 Cabrio	$21,200 (-$4790)
500 Cabrio (a)	$22,700 (-$5290)

* Plus on-road costs