The next Ford Ka has a hard work to face: it must try not to be cannibalized by the charming Fiat 500, which provides the technical basis for the small german citycar.

The only way to gain popularity and face adequately the italian rival, is impressing a peculiar styling to the body, and it seems that Ford Europe will take the right decision: the 2009 Ford Ka will keep very close to the Ford Verve concept’s lines (headlights, air intake, belt line).

We are sure it is a necessary choice for keeping the distance between the two citycars, all the more so since the Fiat 500 won the “Car of the Year 2008″ award.

Continue reading: Ford Ka 2009 spied

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The Fiat Grande Punto has won the prize “Imprensa Automotiva 2007″ in Brazil, one of the most important automotive awards in the country, since it is given by a jury of specialised journalists.

The jury was made of 63 automotive journalists coming from brazilian newspapers, magazines, radio stations and televisions.
The finalists in the category of ‘Best National Vehicle’ were the Fiat Punto, Chevrolet Vectra, Citroën C4 Pallas, Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf. The Fiat Punto won with a clean 77 % of share.

The small italian car was elected not only for its design, but also for being the only car on sale on the Brazilian market to offer the innovative Blue&Me system and for the good equipment in general. This is the second award in barely two months: in october the Brazilian-built Punto won another award, the “Inter-American Car of the Year”.

Via | ItaliaSpeed

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Thanks to the success of the brand new Fiat 500, Fiat has approved a new 275 million Euro investment to expand the Tychy plant, that will have to satisfy the increasing orders for the old-fashioned italian citycar.

In 2008 the polish plant shall produce 40-60.000 units more than previewed, and by 2009 500.000 units per year will be built in Tychy.

Next year the Tichy plant should start assembling the new Ford Ka alongside the Fiat Panda and the 500.

Via | Repubblica.it

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The new Mini Clubman John Cooper Works is the new top version of the trendy estate built by Mini. It looks very similar to the Mini Clubman Challenge Safety Car.

The Clubman JCW is largely based on the Mini Cooper S Clubman, it has a different low front grille, new logos and the twin-black stripes alla along the body. There is also a new design for the 18 inches alloy wheels.

Continue reading: Mini Clubman John Cooper Works with 192 bhp

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The Toyota iQ concept shown at the latest Frankfurt auto show will soon be a production car that will feature several interesting innovations. A really striking one is a new kind of airbag which is designed to protect the rear seat passenger from rear impacts, as revealed by Hiroshi Nakajima, chief designer of the iQ concept in an interview with News.

The Toyota iQ concept features an unusual 3+1 seating configuration, with the back seat positioned just 30 cm from the rear window, in order to obtain more space for the back passenger’s legs. This arrangement required improved protection from rear impacts, to get good results in crash-tests.

Nakajima states that this rear-airbag system enables the iQ to get the five-star EuroNCAP rating for the passenger protection.

Via | MotorAuthority

Continue reading: Toyota: new rear-impact airbags for iQ concept

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Recently, both Audi and BMW have shown their interest to produce small cars, even though their model range is made of luxury sedans, big SUVs and fast supercars.

Audi showed last week the Metroproject quattro at the Tokyo Motor Show, a concept car that foreshadows the looks of the next Audi A1. It will arrive on the market in late 2009 and its rivals will be cars such as the Mini Cooper or the future BMW supermini. The three-door variant is likely going to be followed by a five-door version and a convertible one.

Motor Authority published these two renderings in which the cabrio and 5-door variants keep many of the concept’s details, such as the aluminium arches and the LED headlights. The 18″ alloy wheels are unlikely to be kept for the production version.

Continue reading: Audi A1 cabriolet and five-door: first renderings

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To complete the Fiat 500 day here at Eurocarblog, a photo gallery of the interiors and the details of the new Fiat 500 (42 images). In previous posts you can find the exterior photos and the technical details of the new 500.

Continue reading: Fiat 500 - interior and details image gallery

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For your delectation: a complete photo gallery of the exterior of the new Fiat 500 (55 images). You can also visit the photo gallery of the interior and the details (42 images). In our previous post you can read the official Fiat press release.

Continue reading: Fiat 500 - exterior image gallery

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The Fiat 500 is here: after the great event in Turin on the 4th of July and the press conference this morning, Fiat dealers all over Italy have started showing the car to the public and selling it (check out the 55 photos of the exterior and the 42 photos of the interior and details in our photo galleries).

The price list is as follows:
1.2 69 ps POP -10.500 €
1.2 69 ps SPORT - 12.500€
1.2 69 ps LOUNGE - 12.500 €
1.4 16v 100 ps POP - 12.500 €
1.4 16v 100 ps SPORT - 14.500 €
1.4 16v 100 ps LOUNGE - 14.500 €
1.3 multijet 75 ps POP - 12.500 €
1.3 multijet 75 ps SPORT - 14.500 €
1.3 multijet 75 ps LOUNGE - 14.500 €

All three initially available engines respect the Euro5 emission standars. Fiat expects that the 500 will achieve a 5-star EuroNCAP rating. To that end the 500 has 7 airbags as standard equipment. The car is 3.55 m long and 1.63 m wide.

The warranty is quite unheard of: 5 years, 500.000 km, 24h roadside assistance, take-up and delivery and guaranteed mobility for the driver in case of scheduled maintainance.

In a couple of years we can expect the Small Gasoline Engine (a 900 cc 2-cylinder turbocarged engine, with two power-steps, 90 and 110 ps) and the Fiat 500 Abarth, with the 1.4-liter T-JET turbocharged engine (starting at 135 ps, with an optional tuning kit that will take it up to 150 ps).

Below the fold you can find the summary of the Fiat press release (or you can download the complete document, in word format)

Continue reading: Fiat 500 - press kit

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The Fiat Auto Group has developed a liking for the Nurburgring: after the photos of the Alfa 159 GTA here’s a video of the Fiat 500 Abarth doing the rounds. We absolutely love the sound of the engine and we find the claims in the video to be quite silly: the street-going 500 Abarth is expected to have the 1.4-liter T-JET engine under the hood, in a 135 ps incarnation, with the option of an Abarth-kit to take it up to 150 ps.

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