Returning To A Past Glory

Fiat updates classic 1957 car design as Italy's most beloved compact gets is reborn

Legendary car maker Fiat has had some tough years of late, so it's perhaps not surprising that this Italian icon of the road has dipped into its past to help secure its future.
At the 74th annual Geneva car show last month, Fiat introduced Trepiuno, a sassy concept car (nearing production) with features such as touch-sensitive dashboard controls, a continuous windshield/roof and an interior with adjustable sizing. BBC News called the compact design "art on wheels".
But if Trepiuno has a touch of the familiar to it, there's a very good reason for this sense: this new design is a direct descendent of Fiat's classic Nuovo 500 of 1957. The Turin-based car giant sold 3.6 million units of the Nuovo 500 before its production ceased in 1975.
So why is Fiat introducing a "new" Nuovo 500 in the guise of Trepiuno in 2004? Marketing has a lot to do with it. No doubt Fiat executives have noted with interest the runaway success stories of the re-tooled and re-released Volkswagen Beetle and Mini Cooper from BMW and decided they would fancy a piece of that retro pie. Their history, after all, is as rich as any of their competitors. Now, whether this car marketing trend indicates a collective need to return to our - or our parents' - youth or it points to a general shortage of new car design ideas is open to debate. One suspects there's something of both in this back to the future trend.
The history of the Fiat 500 actually reaches back to 1936, when young Fiat designer and engineering graduate Dante Giacosa conceived the company's first version of the diminutive vehicle. Dubbed "Topolino" for an unintentional resemblance to Mickey Mouse, the first 500 model was an instant success but the war years slowed its sales momentum. By the time young Italians were zipping about on Vespas and Lambrettas in the early 1950s, Fiat recognized a market potential for the same kind of spirited transportation, though for young families. The now-veteran Giacosa engaged post-war euphoria with the compact Nuova 500, which was designed to navigate tight spaces. Its fold-back sunroof allowed drivers, like scooter riders, to feel the wind in their hair.
In her recent book, A Century of Car Design, British design critic Penny Sparke writes that "(Giacosa) had been a highly intuitive designer, crossing the divide that, for many others, separated technology and art". The Turin-based designer also, Sparke notes, "understood the cultural and socio-economic imperatives that determined the evolution of the modern automobile. His was an approach shared by only a handful of other car designers in the 20th century and one that enabled not mere evolution but radical change to enter the world of automobile design".
Giacosa eventually headed up Fiat's research and development centre before retiring in 1975, the same year his Nuovo 500 was retired. He died in 1996, at the age of 91.
Trepiuno goes back in time for the sake of Fiat's future. It may employ new century technologies, but this new design bears the classic mid-20th century imprint of Dante Giacosa's creativity.

Publication Date: 2004-04-18
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3864