Fiat 500 will get stretched to give the BMW Mini a fight!

The cutesy cute Fiat 500 will soon get a stretch to be able to give another gorgeous looking automobile, the BMW Mini a solid fight at the hustings. While the five door model will be targeted squarely at the US market, where the three door Fiat 500 hasn’t been able to grab marketshare from the BMW Mini hatchback, it is expected to make its debut in Europe first and then slowly filter down to other markets, markets where practicality is a big factor for ensuring better sales. Talking of which, the main reason for going five door with the Fiat 500 is to liberate more cabin space and make the car a more practical purchase.

Fiat 500 Zagato Coupe

Currently, the Fiat 500 can seat 2 adults and 2 midgets. With the new 5 door model, four adults should be able to squeeze into the Fiat 50o’s innards. One can expect the Fiat 500 fans to be quite divided on what appears to be a touchy and contentious issue. We for our part feel that the Fiat 500 being a classic and a truly iconic car should remain a two seater with the volumes game being left for an all new car to handle. The sheer purity of what the Fiat 500 could be lost with additional seats and a bigger form factor, which is something that Fiat needs to consider.

While Fiat, being an Italian car maker can be expected to come up with a design that will make us go wow, we’re wondering where this volumes game will take the Fiat 500 to. The BMW Mini has come a long way from the Cooper and the Cooper S to have variants like the Convertible and the Countryman. Over the next few years, more variants of the Mini will hit markets across the globe, but that makes sense for a car, which is now a dedicated brand in itself. This logic somehow doesn’t seem to fit the Fiat 500 though, which is still one amongst many cars that Fiat peddles, however iconic it may be.

Fiat 500 Zagato Coupe

Coming to the Indian context, the Fiat 500 is sold for a hefty price, as the brand sees the car more a brand builder than a volumes product. While sales are almost negligible and given that nobody in India buys the Fiat 500 for its practicality, it would be interesting to see whether Fiat India would bring the new five door 500 to the Indian market, considering the fact that the BMW Mini is all set to begin sales in the next few months. With the Fiat 500 being imported as a completely built unit(CBU), bringing a bigger model in shouldn’t be all that difficult a task. We’ll hang around and see what turns up!

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