Convertible Fiat 500C at Geneva
17 February 2009
This is the Fiat 500C – a convertible version of the successful city car which will make its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show.
On sale in the spring, the Fiat 500C will be available with the standard car’s three engines – a 1.2-litre and 1.4-litre petrol and 1.3-litre diesel developing 69bhp, 100bhp and 75bhp respectively.
The 500C also gets Fiat’s stop-start technology where the engine is automatically shutdown when the car is stationary, helping to cut carbon emissions and improve fuel economy.
As yet there is no news of whether it will get the 135bhp engine seen in the Fiat 500 Abarth.
To save space, the Fiat 500C gets a sliding canvas roof which sits at the back of the car when opened – similar to the Citroen C3 Pluriel and classic Citroen 2CV.
This roof style means the car maintains the same boot size as the standard 500, and shouldn’t suffer rigidity issues as with some cars which are turned into convertibles.
The C is the latest model to join the super-successful 500 range since its re-launch in 2007.
It will join the standard 500 and the brilliant Abarth model which Auto Trader test-drove last week.
We’ll be reporting live from Geneva on March 3 so don’t forget to come back for all the big news as it happens.
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