Fiat approves a four-door variant of the Fiat 500 for the US and Europe

Although Sergio Marchionne has not yet made an official announcement, the project has already been approved by the Fiat board and may or may not be announced in the coming days. However, it is already certain that Fiat will build a four-door model of the 500, specially designed for the North American market and which, incidentally, will also be sold in Europe.

The new model will go on sale in Europe in 2011, with the export version being built at the Mirafiori plant in Turin. The export plans for the US include three variants: the four-door model, a convertible and the traditional two-door model, along with the sporty 500, under the Abarth brand.

The four-door 500 will fall into the minivan segment because of its construction characteristics. Without a doubt, Marchionne is moving at full speed in his restructuring of Fiat worldwide and in raising the brand’s image in the US. And alongside the 500 in North America, Chrysler will also have its small car variant very much in the style of Fiat and with its technology, which will be imported from Serbia by 2013, as established in the long-term plan that Chrysler revealed last year.

Does anyone still have doubts about the four-door Cinquecento? Marchionne believes it is better to innovate and take risks than to stagnate in what is already known. He will possibly win more customers with this model in Europe, while the public reaction in the US will surely be an unknown. In any case, next year we will know whether or not Marchionne’s strategy will work.

Via | Automotive News