Fiat 500 Arrives in Canada

After 27 year of absence from the Canadian market, Fiat is making what it hopes to be a memorable comeback. As it happened in the neighboring US, the first Fiat model to sell in Canada is the tiny 500, a small city car that seems to have captured the imagination of the Canadian consumers.

According to Chrysler, Fiat's partner in North America, the interest in the 500 was huge. The Fiat 500 Prima Edizione models, the first Italian cars to sell in Canada, were sold out in just 12 hours back in November. And mind you, 500 of them were up for sale.

Now, the first Fiat 500 owners have had the chance to meet their future rides, as the American manufacturer paraded no less than 200 Fiat 500 models from the Quebec Business Centre along the TransCanada Highway and all the way to their dealerships.

“We are thrilled that the first highly anticipated Fiat 500s have started to land on Canadian soil because the vehicle is ideally suited for this market,” said Reid Bigland, Chrysler Canada CEO. “There are more and more happy customers every day who are enjoying the European technology, Italian style and 55-mpg fuel economy the Fiat 500 offers.”

The decision Fiat made a while back to bring the 500 as the first model into the US and Canada raised a few eyebrows at the time, but it seems to have paid off, at least at first glance. The model, lovable as it is, has managed to shatter what most consider the historic preconceptions American consumers have for small cars with small displacement engines.