NEW YORK -- At a press conference hosted by the
New York International Auto Show and Mobil 1 at the Jacob Javits Centre in
Manhattan, New York, the Fiat 500 was declared the 2009 World Car Design of
the Year.

    Cars eligible for the 2009 World Car Design of the Year award are taken
from the list of fifty-one (51) World Car candidates nominated by
fifty-nine (59) World Car jurors from twenty-five (25) countries throughout
the world.

    The World Car Design of the Year category, and the corresponding award,
is meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push
established boundaries.

    A design panel consisting of four highly respected world design experts
asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of
recommendations for the jurors. The design experts were:

    --  Silvia Baruffaldi: Managing Editor, Auto & Design magazine
    --  Robert Cumberford:  design critic, Automobile and Auto & Design
        magazines
    --  Akira Fujimoto:  Editor-in-Chief, Car Styling magazine.

    --  Tom Matano: Executive Director, School of Industrial Design, Academy of
        Art University, San Francisco, USA
    Jurors then voted on the expert's recommendations and the ballots were
tabulated by the international accounting firm KPMG. The top three design
finalists were, in alphabetical order, the Fiat 500, the Citroen C5 Sedan /
C5 Tourer, and the Jaguar XF.

    This is the second time that a Fiat design has been chosen one of the
top three finalists. The Fiat Grande Punto was the initial top three
finalist for the design title in 2007.

    The World Car jurors observed, "Icon is an overused word in the
automotive world, but the Fiat 500 dating from 1957 genuinely deserves the
sobriquet. Revived by Fiat last year, the new Cinquecento is larger than
its predecessor but still smaller than a Mini. Cheerful and cheeky, it does
a brilliant job of capturing the visual appeal of the original version
while meeting modern design and engineering standards. Design consultant
Robert Cumberford says the new 500 "pushes the emotional hot buttons of
several generations of people who might never have driven one of the early
models, but who admired them on European streets. Built on the Panda
platform, the 500 keeps the original's charm, adding two more seats and all
contemporary safety, anti-pollution and driving aids." In Tom Matano's
opinion the Fiat possesses "heart-warming style. It is genuine,
straightforward, without gimmicks. It is a welcome addition to a car world
full of non-humanistic designs."

    "It is with great pride that we accept an award which sets the seal on
the work done by Fiat to create stunningly good-looking cars that convey
everything that is best in Italian manufacturing," said Roberto Giolito,
Head of Style Fiat. "Italian design has often anticipated the future trends
of motoring and our latest models, as the Fiat 500 shows, stand out for
that 'concrete beauty' that the whole world has come to expect from an
Italian car. We will never cease to work in the direction of design
innovation, creating products of great styling appeal which at the same
time never fail to respect our historical, cultural and industrial
identity."

    Previous winners of the World Car Design of the Year award were the
Audi R8 in 2008, the Audi TT in 2007 and the Citroen C4 in 2006.

    Now in their sixth year, the annual World Car awards have become one of
the world's most prestigious, credible and significant programs of its
kind.

    The awards were inaugurated in 2003, and officially launched in January
2004, to reflect the reality of the global marketplace, as well as to
recognize and reward automotive excellence on an international scale. The
awards are intended to complement, not compete, with existing national and
regional Car of the Year programs.

    The awards are administered by a non-profit association, under the
guidance of a Steering Committee of pre-eminent automotive journalists from
Asia, Europe, and North America. There is no affiliation with, nor are the
awards in any way influenced by any publication, auto show, automaker, or
other commercial enterprise.