4-Door Fiat 500 to Come to the U.S.

Fiat 500 - photo

Fiat will bring a four-door version of the 500 city car to the U.S., according to three company sources quoted by the Automotive News. According to these unnamed sources, the car will appear first in Europe, at the end of 2011, but the exact date for the North American launch is not yet certain. Another uncertainty regards the number of Chrysler Group dealerships that will sell Fiats.

On April 21, CEO Sergio Marchionne will announce the company’s five year plan, which may include the arrival in the U.S. of the four-door Fiat 500, the same sources say. The project has been approved inside the group, being assigned the codename L0. In Europe, the car would be classified as a small minivan, competing with other cars of the same category, such as the Opel Meriva.

Fiat is said to build the 4-door 500 at its Turin Mirafiori plant, on a longer and wider platform than the two-door model’s. The four-door version will be the fourth addition to the Fiat 500 lineup in the U.S., after the two-door (2010), the convertible version (2011) and the performance version, that will be marketed under the Abarth brand (2012). North American versions of the two-door model will be assembled at Chrysler’s factory in Toluca, Mexico, starting this year.

Chrysler is also planning to bring a subcompact sedan in North America from a Fiat factory in Serbia. The Chrysler brand product plan, unveiled in November, called for a Fiat-derived subcompact sedan to be imported in 2013. The vehicle would be built in Kragujevac, Serbia, where local automaker Zastava Automobili once made the Yugo.