If the Fiat 500 is an A-segment city car, then what would be the modern equivalent of the classic 600? Why, a B-segment sub-compact hatchback, of course.
It may have slipped by you, but Fiat’s 600 series, made from 1955 to 1969, will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year, so to honor the Italian model that was also offered as the Seat 600 and Zastava 750, retro-designer David Obendorfer resurrected it as a replacement for the Punto.
Whereas Fiat’s original 600 was just over 3.2 meters long, Obendorfer’s design concept is a true sub-compact hatchback with five doors measuring a little over 4 meters in length
The styling mimics Fiat’s own reborn 500, punching in some hidden rear door handles and design cues from the 600 like the rear wheel haunches for good measure. And, how can we not mention those turning signals positioned on top of the fenders, which may have been used in some iterations of the 600 in the past, but today, they clearly remind of the Nissan Juke.
Obendorfer is surely a talented guy and his renders are spotless, but there’s a but coming and it doesn’t have so much to do with the 600 Concept itself, but with the overkill of the 500 theme that has overtaken Fiat since the launch of the current 500 hatch in 2007.
Yes, most of us really liked the reincarnated 500, but then came the 500L and its derivatives, and more recently, the 500X crossover, and if that wasn’t enough, Fiat officials are rumored to be mulling another 500-ish design for the long-delayed Punto replacement in 2016 (and then they make fun of Audi’s policy of ‘one style fits all sizes’…).
It’s not hard to see that Fiat desperately needs to re-invent itself and move towards the future. As an automaker from a country that has creative design embedded in its DNA, it doesn’t, but even if it has to look into its past again for inspiration, there’s such a variety of solid designs that it’s ridiculous, not to mention lazy, to insist on reheating the same formula over and over again.
Designer: David Obendorfer via Designboom
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