2012 Fiat 500 Pop Cabrio 1 Owner, Bianco Perla, Clean Carfax, Florida Car! on 2040-cars

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Fiat previews production 500X on Melfi assembly line

The Fiat assembly plant in Melfi, Italy, may not be one that appears on our radar that often. It's been in operation since 1993, but until recently only built the Punto - a model that's been around in its current form with few modifications for the better part of a decade, but hasn't warranted the transatlantic voyage to American showrooms. Fiat recently added to the Punto assembly line in Melfi the production of the new Jeep Renegade, but that's not all.
Soon the Renegade (which you can see being built in the background of the image above) will spawn the 500X, a small crossover based on the same platform but with what you can see will be a more rounded shape. Replacing the Sedici (a.k.a. SX4) that was jointly developed with Suzuki, the 500X will join the Cinquecento family alongside the 500 hatch, 500C convertible and 500L minivan, the latter on whose design we hope the 500X will prove a marked improvement.
Expect the 500X (or so it's expected to be called) to be revealed on July 4, which will mark not only the 238th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence but also the 57th anniversary of the original 500's debut.

Fiat debuts 500 Ribelle, 500L Urbana Trekking

Fiat has introduced a pair of special edition models at the 2014 Miami Auto Show, trotting out the 500 Ribelle and the 500L Urbana Trekking.
The smaller of the two, the compact 500 Ribelle, expands on the 500's retro-chic looks by adding a red roof, spoiler and mirror caps, which should contrast nicely with the limited color palette of Bianco, Billet Argento, Grigio and Nero Puro. Aside from the paint changes, Fiat has added gloss black headlight and taillight bezels and black wheels. The cabin comes with a choice of two upholstery colors: gray and red or gray and black.
The five-door 500L Urbana Trekking adds a few pieces of matte-painted trim, in the form of new mirror caps, side sills and body side molding. Matte-black, 17-inch wheels spice up the exterior and match the standard black roof, while Fiat's six selectable colors (Verde Bosco Perla, Rosso Perla, Giallo, Bianco, Grigio Scuro and Blue Tornado) add a degree of customization to the limited-edition five-door. For some reason, the pretty matte paint shown in the gallery was a one-off item for the debut car, and won't be offered to consumers. Gloss black interior trim pieces and a mix of black leather and leatherette change up the interior ever so slightly. Beats Audio and satellite radio are both standard features.

2014 Fiat 500L [w/video]

Practicality From The Italian Ministry of Cute
As seen in the correct Italian/European light, Fiat is rightly dubbed a small car kingdom. This is not the marque's whole story, though, and it's certainly not a way Fiat appreciates being pigeonholed. But even the brand itself sort of has to admit that, in the end, without clever and right-priced smaller cars in its lineup, it might not even exist today.
Between the early 1980s and the dawn of the 21st century, however, the Fiat brand seemingly did everything it could to wreck itself and its core compact-car reputation by producing a series of certifiably unamazing cars that mostly looked drab and behaved below average. Just go have a gander at the Ritmo, the Uno, the Duna, the 1992-98 Cinquecento, 2004-07 Seicento/600, and the most recent European mega-flop, the Stilo, discontinued in 2008. Thankfully, almost right out of the gates since the mid-aughts, however, that has no longer been the case.