Fiat has reached a new milestone in the production of its “Nuova” (which is Italian for “New”) 500 as the 1 millionth example of the retro-styled city car has just rolled off the manufacturer’s Fiat Auto Poland assembly line.
The milestone model is a Lounge version finished in a three-layer Funk White color and fitted with Fiat’s 69HP 1.2-liter engine.
The achievement comes a little over five years since Fiat released its 21st century version of the classic 500 mini, beginning with Europe in the summer of 2007. By comparison, its ancestor, the original 500 that was introduced in 1957, took four years of production to reach 180,000 registrations and ended up selling a total of 3.4 million units until its demise in 1975.
Today, Italy’s answer to Britain’s MINI, is sold in more than 100 countries all over the world, from Italy to South Africa and the United States to Japan, while it has also been produced at the Fiat-Chrysler Group’s Mexican plant in Toluca since 2011.
In North America, Fiat has sold more than 73,000 vehicles since 2011, of which 42,000 were registered in the first 10 months of 2012.
In its home market of Europe, the 500 achieved a record market share of 13.9 percent in 2008, and reported its best sales year in 2009 with around 186,000 units.
Over the years, Fiat has expanded the 500’s range with a second body style featuring a roll-over cloth top, the Abarth sport models and an array of special editions. These include:
Abarth 500 (March 2008), 500 by Diesel (September 2008), 500 Pink (June 2009), 500C (July 2009), Abarth 500C (March 2010), 500C by Diesel (June 2010), 500 TwinAir (July 2010), 500 Matt Black (September 2010), 500 two-tone (December 2010), 500 and 500C by Gucci (in April and August 2011, respectively).
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