Fiat 500 scoops prestigious European award

The new Fiat 500 has won the coveted Car of the Year Award 2008.

One of the most prestigious awards in the global motor manufacturing industry, the award was decided by 58 specialist journalists from 22 countries.

Fiat scooped the award by winning 385 votes, narrowly beating the Mazda 2 (325 votes) and the Ford Mondeo (202).

The super-compact car was launched on July 4th this year, and has long been tipped as one of the most innovative models available.

Some 105,000 orders were taken in France and Italy alone during the first four months, with 6,300 orders taken in Germany, where the car has only been on sale a for a few weeks.

The UK launch of the new model is set for early 2008.

At present the Fiat 500 is the second biggest A segment car in the European market, accounting for 14.1 per cent of sales.

Encouragingly for Fiat, it is secondly only to the Panda, which accounts for 21.2 per cent of the market.

Safety was a key feature in selecting the recipient of the award.

The car is only 3.55 metres long, one of the smallest to receive the maximum five-star rating in European safety tests. It also has seven airbags.

The wide choice of trim, colour, power and extras has also attracted further interest; along with the vehicle's fuel efficiency.