Fiat 500 is design car of 2009

Fiat’s 500 has been picked for the 2009 Design Car of the Year by 59 journalists from around the world. The Fiat model pipped as many as 51 short listed cars made by almost all top car makers around the world.

At the New York International Motor Show, the Fiat 500, Citroen C5 and the Jaguar XF finished finalists for the last round of judging, and among the three, Fiat’s 500 emerged winner.

Fiat 500

The Fiat 500 was picked winner for its chic and sophisticated outlook by a group of four international design experts -  Silvia Baruffali, Editorial Director of Auto & Design magazine, Robert Cumberford, design critic and journalist for Automobile and Auto & Design magazines, Akira Fujimoto, Editor-in-Chief of Car Styling magazine and Tom Matano, Executive Director of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

With the 2009 Design Car of the Year coming its way, the Italian car maker sees it as an endorsement of Fiat’s commitment to creating attractive, innovative cars, which expresses the best of Italian manufacturing capability. As has been oft repeated, Italian design has been considered to be a step ahead of trends in the automotive world. Fiat has been adopting such pioneering trends and the Fiat 500 is the latest example.

The Fiat 500 is currently available with a choice of three engines, namely 1.2 51 kW, 1.4 74 kW and the 1.3 55 kW Turbo Diesel. These are matched to a choice of three exciting trim and equipment levels, Pop, Lounge and Sport and prices start from a price of $22,990 upwards. This includes the limited time 100,000 Virgin Blue Velocity points, said a auto industry news source.