The Little Fiat that Could

Anticipation hovers over the crowd at Maranello Fiat’s grand opening celebration. Guests mingle, sip spirits and ogle the new 500s occupying the showroom floor. But it’s not a car this party is waiting for – it’s the man who saved Fiat, who reintroduced the beloved 500 to the world, that’s on their minds. And as he’s ushered through the doors of Fiat’s Canadian flagship dealer, the crowd’s response says it all: Sergio Marchionne has arrived.
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The Feel of a Fiat 500

Since the turn of the 20th century, one car company has been at the forefront of the Italian automotive industry; a manufacturer at the grassroots of Italian car racing; the enterprise that brought the Lancia name to fame; the brand that tamed Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati, and pulled Chrysler from the abyss of bankruptcy. An acronym for “Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino,” that brand is Fiat, and with the Fiat 500 once again rolling onto North American asphalt, Canadians can finally grip the wheel of this revived iconic ride.

“The car was made to really appeal to the public, and that’s what it did,” says Remo Ferri, president of The Remo Ferri Group of Automobiles, regarding the original Fiat 500 that launched in 1957. “And of course, the car made so much history, in movies and so on, that it became part of the Italian style in life … It’s part of the Italian heritage.” Read more