Fiat has built its millionth 500, just five years after launching the retro-styled city car.
The millionth model, a 1.2-litre petrol Lounge-spec version in white, rolled off the production line at Fiat’s plant in Poland on Monday this week.
The 500 is widely credited as the car that saved Fiat from near-bankruptcy when it was launched and provided the firm with a steady sales base that allowed CEO
Sergio Marchionne to turn it around and bring it to its current levels of global success.
Even if sales are stagnant now in Europe, the 500 is continuing to pull in customers, with more than 42,000 sold so far this year in the US, a market where the 500 was launched just last year.
With the upcoming European launches of the 500-L MPV and 500X crossover, Fiat is more and more going to be seen as the company that makes the 500 and little else.
It still has a ways to go to catch up with its illustrious 1957 predecessor, though. The original Nuova 500 sold more than 3.4 million units in a sales career stretching over 18 years.