Fiat: Italian favourite is reincarnated

Supermodel Elle MacPherson with a Fiat 500C in London. Photo / Supplied

Fiat will build a fourth variant of its small 500 car called the 500L, or "L" for large.

The five-door, high-roof hatchback, known previously by its L-Zero codename, will be unveiled next month at the Geneva motor show.

The car's front end is similar to the 500 but the 500L variant sits on a widened version of Fiat's small vehicle platform used by the Punto hatchback. Expect the 500L to be around 4150mm long, about 60mm longer than the 500 hatchback.

Fiat will eventually offer two versions of the 500L: the five-seat standard model followed two months later by a seven-seat variant, which will be around 10mm longer than the five-seat model.

Sales of the 500L in Europe will begin in July. The Italian carmaker plans to offer the seven-seat variant in Europe only, while the five-seat model will also be exported to the United States beginning early next year. Fiat believes American customers won't buy a seven-seat vehicle as small as the 500L.

Engines for the 500L are likely to include Fiat's TwinAir turbocharged 63kW two-cylinder 900cc petrol unit, a 1.4-litre petrol engine with 57kW or 78kW, as well as a 1.3-litre diesel with 55kW or 70kW.

Fiat will build the 500L at a plant in Serbia, owned 67 per cent by Fiat and 33 per cent by the Serbian government. Fiat and the Serbian Government is investing €700 million ($1.1 billion) in the plant, which once belonged to Zastava Automobili, which built Yugo cars. Production is set to begin in June, with a target of around 40,000 units for this year. Output is expected to reach over 100,000 units in a full year.

Fiat relaunched the retro-styled 500 in 2007 with the 500 hatchback. A year later, the carmaker added the Abarth, a performance version, followed by the 500C convertible in July 2009.

Fiat sold almost 4 million of the original 500 model between 1957 and 1975, when the model was as iconic as the Italian movie stars Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.

Fiat has sold more than 770,000 of the modern 500 since 2007. In 2011, Fiat sold over 195,000 units of the 500 globally, including 156,000 in Europe, 26,000 in North America and the rest in Latin America and China.

In Europe, the 500 range is built by Fiat in its Tychy plant in Poland. Chrysler Group builds the 500 in Toluca, Mexico, for the North American, Latin American and China markets. This is the second incarnation for the Fiat 500L. Between 1968 and 1972, Fiat offered a 500L model with superior equipment levels. At the time, L stood for Lusso, or luxury in Italian.