Ferrari owners whose cars need garage work will be offered a special edition Fiat 500 as a courtesy car.

The Fiat 500s will have a Ferrari makeover, featuring the traditional red paintwork of its sports cars, supercars and Formula 1 racers.

And, to make Ferrari customers feel even more at home in their courtesy cars, the 1.4-litre 100bhp engine has had its exhaust tuned to provide a more sporting tone.

Red brake callipers, sports pedals and a black steering wheel with red stitching complete the mini-Ferrari styling pack.

The special Fiat also come with all the extras including automatic climate control, electric sunroof, leather interior, stereo, fog lights and a special edition plate on its dashboard and door sills.

In total, 200 Ferrari-themed Fiat 500s will be built specially for Ferrari dealers all over Europe, with UK garages getting 60 of them.

The Fiat 500 is one of the most talked about cars of 2008 and looks set to be an avalanche sales success for the Italian carmaker which owns Ferrari.

View our slide show of the Fiat 500 Abarth

So far more than 220,000 Fiat 500s have been ordered worldwide, yet you are unlikely to see two exactly the same thanks to owners being encouraged to personalise their cars with thousands of optional extras.

It’s available with a 1.2-litre or 1.4-litre petrol engine and a 1.3-litre diesel engine, which all offer fuel economy of more than 40mpg and costs from just £7,900 – with an entry-level Ferrari F430 costing 15 times as much.

A hot Abarth version will make up the range early next year.

Check out the official Fiat 500 Abarth video: