The Fiat 500 was manufactured between the years 1957 and 1975 by Fiat in Italy. The only model that was manufactured beyond 1975 was the Fiat500K, which was last manufactured in 1977. This car was launched and marketed as Nuova 500 and was promoted as a cheap and handy town car, so as to counter the growing congestion in the cities of Italy. It was a small car, measuring a meager 2.97 meter and was powered by a very small double cylinder, 479 cc, air-cooled engine. The Fiat 500 was the pioneer of the city cars as it redefined the concept of small cars.

The primary driver for launching this car was the growing demand for low cost cars post the 2nd World War. Fiat manufactured the Fiat 500 in the lines of Volkswagen and was highly successful in creating a huge market for these cars. Other car manufacturers also started making such small and low cost cars in Europe. Soon this concept, which is almost dead now, spread across the continent with car manufacturers in Germany, Austria etc making similar cars which were legally based on Fiat500.

This small size and low cost car proved to be a great puller for the people and it gained immense popularity across Europe. It also had another version called “Giardiniera” (station wagon), which had a standard engine and the wheelbase was slightly longer. Fiat halted the production of Fiat 500 in 1975 and the Fiat 126, which was launched in 1973 to replace it. However, the Fiat 126 could not get the kind of popularity its predecessor did.