Fiat CEO Luca De Meo introduced the brand to the world’s media on Tuesday morning, on a stand dominated by a huge mock-up 500, which powerfully served to emphasise that the fun and excitement has been firmly put back into the Turinese carmaker. The new 500, which was unveiled two months ago during glittering celebrations in Fiat’s hometown, dominates the stand as it makes its first international motor show appearance. De Meo was blunt: “I believe it is the greatest car in the world today,” he told the press.

The 500 mock-up is immense and contains a 500 ‘rollercoaster test drive’. A real master stroke: it is sure draw the massive crowds straight onto Fiat’s stand for the next week-and-a-half. And although many bemoan that manufacturers constantly churn out lifeless displays – Fiat plans to make ‘fun’ a big priority at this motor show. “This is the biggest car ever built for a motor show,” said De Meo proudly, and it certainly seems it. The quartet of brightly coloured 500s that will rattle round and round the track, when the show opens to the public tomorrow, are sure to reveal the joys to be found within the roomy confines of this little car. With 70,000 orders already, more buyers can be expected in Frankfurt.

De Meo was in buoyant mood yesterday: “All this says a lot about Fiat’s attitude today,” he said. “It’s surprising, creative, yet has a lot of substance. The IAA is such an important event that we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to display all that we are preparing, to make Fiat one of the coolest brands. Fiat is Italy, and Italy has played a big part and will play a big part in the future,” he continued, turning to explain the red, white and green theme of the stand. “The three colours of the Italian flag represent the three key messages we wish to communicate this year,” he told the press.

Firstly, the rational behind the white: “White is the colour of pureness, simplicity but it is also the colour of soul – and 500 is probably the soul of our brand, the quintessential representation of what we want to do and a good example of what we are capable of doing,” boasted De Meo. “The 500 has been praised by a lot of specialists as being the best small car in the world today. The design was planned for customisation possibilities, to be the safest and the most ecological car in its class. This is a demonstration that we are the technological world leaders when it comes to small cars. And there is more to come.

“Red stands for passion,” he continued, switching attention to the second themed colour. “And in the motorsport world everyone knows red represents Italy on the race tracks. And red today is the colour of the re-launch of the Abarth brand.” De Meo explained that Abarth is back as in its rightful historic position as Fiat’s hugely-successful racing division, and alongside its rally stage programme it will boast a range of cars re-engineered for real performance. “It [Abarth] will be distributed from an exclusive network of 100-120 dealers throughout Europe,” revealed the CEO.

“The Punto Abarth with the ‘Super Sport’ name on the stand is a good example of what we will be doing,” said De Meo, identifying the dramatic concept lurking on the Abarth section, just behind its steroid-pumping, triple rally title winning sister.
 

“180 bhp, zero to 100 in just 7.7 seconds, uprated suspension,” enthused De Meo, “this is a tuning version of the Punto Abarth that will be introduced on the Italian market in just a few months, in October in Italy.”

Finally to the last colour and straight to major theme of this show: the environment. In fact this is a truly ‘green’ motor show with every major manufacturer muscling against its rivals to be the greenest, from a plethora of concepts on the stands, to the hydrogen-powered BMWs chugging around the vast confines Frankfurt ‘Messe’ complex. “And then we have green to say that today Fiat is the most ecological manufacturer in Europe. We are proud of it, but we also know we have responsibility towards people and their future and we will commit to this by saying that, irrespective of industry agreements, we will be the manufacturer with the lowest CO2 emissions in Europe. And we will do this the Fiat way,” De Meo reckoned, “by providing customers with everyday affordable solutions to meet the environmental impact of personal solutions. No rocket science, no science fiction, just easy-to-use, reliable, affordable technology for everybody, everyday.

“Our commitment is very clear,” he emphasised. “We are now working on downsizing, and at the same time upgrading the technology, of gasoline engines. This approach will ensure lower emissions and running costs while delivering an experience. This is already the reality with the 120 and 150 horsepower T-Jet engine mounted on Punto, bravo and Linea. In Frankfurt the Grande Punto and Bravo on show are being presented to the public in 120 bhp and 150 bhp T-Jet specifications.

“The Panda on the platform is a collection of simple and available technologies such as stop-and-start, MTA [gearbox] and Mutiair technology; and thanks to the 900cc direct injection turbocharged engine mounted in it this car can use 69 kgms of CO2 per kilometre. The bi-cylinder engine is the big news of the show, from 2010 to the end of the next decade it will power every fiat model on our new small platform,” he added. Also on the stand is another environmentally responsible Panda: this time PandaPanda, which is being presented in ‘4X4 Climbing’ specification for the first time.

Finally De Meo introduced the new ‘EcoDrive’ development of Blue& Me which will challenge drivers to use their cars in a more environmentally-conscious manner. Embracing EcoDrive will “result in a reduction of fuel consumption of around 10 percent,” he said. Meanwhile in other news from Frankfurt De Meo confirmed that the Bravo’s 70,000 unit sales target for 2007 was well on course to be met: "We have 50,000 orders to date, we will meet the target," De Meo told the Reuters news agency on the sidelines of the show.

by Edd Ellison in Frankfurt