1971 Fiat 500l Jolly on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2013 Fiat 500 Turbo

Diet Abarth
Try as I might, I just can't bring myself to stick to a routine of drinking diet soda. Nevermind the fact that I'm trying to cut soda out of my life altogether - every now and then, I just want the high-octane stuff, and diet simply won't do. If I'm already going to subject myself to the sweeteners and caffeine, I'm going to take the calories that go along with it.
Some people feel the same way about cars (go big or go home!), but I'm not one of them - I often see the merit in less-potent machines that automakers offer. For example, while I simply adored the Mini John Cooper Works GP that I recently tested, I still said I'd rather have a Cooper S Hardtop every day. And while the Ford Focus ST may have been crowned the winner in my hot hatch comparison test from last year, my experience in the Fiesta ST a couple of months ago reminded me yet again that less can indeed be more.

Jeep Cherokee faces on-sale delay

A report in The Wall Street Journal looks at some of the obstacles to the 2014 Jeep Cherokee that go beyond its mootable yet "very contemporary" looks, almost all of them based on Fiat's financial position. Starting with that sheetmetal, in defense of it SRT president Ralph Gilles and Jeep design head Mark Allen said they wanted to "make sure the design still looks modern five years from now."
The WSJ piece doesn't cite longevity as a factor, instead saying that its features originated in a design for an Alfa Romeo, the transformation into a Jeep design meant allowing Chrysler get it to market more quickly and save "hundreds of millions of dollars" in engineering.
The need for Fiat to save money while it weathers the European situation has cut budgets for development, engineering and the pace of retooling the Toledo, Ohio plant to build the Cherokee. In a familiar case of snowballing at work, among the effects will be pushing back the Cherokee's volume sales date and delaying updates to some of Chrysler's other products.

Fiat 500 Gucci Edition returns, priced from $23,750*

Are you sad you missed out on the limited-edition Fiat 500 by Gucci the first time around? Well, fear not. You, too, can once again channel your inner Jennifer Lopez and pick up one of the co-branded little hatches starting this spring - but just like last time, Fiat will only be offering the Gucci 500s for a limited time.
Fiat will offer Gucci versions of both the hardtop 500 and cloth-top 500C, priced from $23,750 and $27,750, respectively, not including *$800 for destination. That's a pretty big price jump over the $18,500 500 Lounge hardtop - you could get the higher-output Turbo or Abarth models for the same or even less cash - but seeing as how Fiat had no trouble moving any of the Gucci-branded 500s last time they came to town, we're sure these will still fly off dealer lots.
And it's not like you don't get some fancy content for that coin. There's a new interior environment that either can be done up in all black, or a black/white contrast, to match the exterior color choices of, well, black or white. There are high-quality leathers used throughout the cabin, as well as satin chrome accents. Outside, the signature Gucci green/red/green stripe runs along the beltline on hardtop models, and along the cloth top on the 500C. Gucci badging is found on the door frames, accented with chrome mirrors and door handles. And of course, there are unique 15-inch aluminum wheels with the interlocking "GG" design on the center caps.