The new Fiat 500, Car of the Year 2008, was handed top honours in the Small and Compact Vehicle category at this year’s Auto 1 Awards, which were dished out at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.

The new Fiat 500, Car of the Year 2008, was handed top honours in the Small and Compact Vehicle category at this year’s Auto 1 Awards, which were dished out at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.

The new Fiat 500 won despite some pretty stiff competition. It won votes not only from the Auto 1 organisation’s editors, experts and racing drivers, but also millions of enthusiastic readers across Europe.

Auto 1 titles are awarded by the Auto Bild Europe magazines group which is made up of 26 European-wide specialist car magazines, including the UK’s Auto Express. Voting is carried out by each magazine before short-listed cars go forward to a demanding and challenging judging process.

With a starting price of just £7,900 OTR (in the UK), the new 500 represents good value for money. At the top end of the range, a highly specified version with a larger engine costs only £10,700 – an OTR price that includes air conditioning and alloy wheels as standard.

This is the latest in a slew of awards that the exciting little 500 has been honoured with since its launch in Turin last summer. As well as collecting the most prestigious title of all, that of European Car of the Year last November, Italiaspeed viewers overwhelmingly voted it Italiaspeed Production Car of the Year in December. Available with a choice of three frugal, ultra-low emissions, Euro 5-ready engines: 69 bhp 1.2-litre and 100 bhp 1.4-litre petrol, or 75 bhp 1.3-litre MultiJet turbodiesel, the new Fiat 500 can be ordered in three different trim levels – Pop, Sport and Lounge.