2012 Fiat 500 Abarth on 2040-cars

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Godzilla stops off for a little Italian in new Fiat ad

Fiat is really trying to push its five-door 500L, which has gotten off to a rather disappointing first year of sales. The Italian brand's first big-name effort involved rapper P. Diddy and a pair of very unfortunate desert pedestrians. Now, it's gone even bigger (quite literally), teaming up with everyone's favorite, city destroying, radiation-breathing green lizard monster - Godzilla.
Yes, the Japanese monster icon is getting rebooted in a new film starring Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, as well as Ken Watanabe and Elizabeth Olsen. With the iconic kaiju hitting US theaters on May 16, the release of the Fiat/Godzilla ad is well timed.
In the ad, Godzilla is doing what he does best, all while devouring standard-sized 500s in the same way that you or I might eat a few grapes. This is working out quite nicely, until the big lizard bites off more than he can chew with the 500L.

Ferrari to be spun off from Fiat Chrysler

The recently merged Fiat Chrysler Automobiles empire has ambitious plans for growth, and it's going to need some big bucks in its coffers in order to enact them. Part of that cash injection is coming from the floating of its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, but now FCA has announced a further capital campaign to be based on the enormous asset that is Ferrari.
FCA's board of directors has just approved the separation of Ferrari from the rest of the group as a separate entity. Once that separation is complete, Ferrari will put 10 percent of its shares on the stock market "in the United States and possibly a European exchange" as well.
This isn't the first time that the idea of a Ferrari IPO has been raised. Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Chrysler, Fiat and Ferrari (pictured above), first raised the idea four years ago. Former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo nixed the idea, but now that he's been discharged, it appears there's nothing to get in the way of Marchionne's desires.

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.