Fiat 600
The Fiat 600 (Italian: Seicento, pronounced [ˌsɛiˈtʃɛnto]) is a small, rear-engined city car and economy family car, made by Italian carmaker Fiat from 1955 to 1969 — offered in two-door fastback sedan and four-door Multipla mini MPV body styles. The 600 is considered a pop icon of the Italian economic miracle, and the three-row seating Multipla, though diminutive and odd-looking, is seen as one the first mass-produced minivans.
| Fiat 600 | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Fiat |
| Also called | Fiat 770 NSU-Fiat Jagst 600/770 Neckar Jagst 600/770 |
| Production | 1955–1969 (Italy) 1955–1985 (Yugoslavia; Zastava) 1957–1973 (Spain ; SEAT) 1960–1982 (Argentina ; Fiat Concord > Sevel) 1979–1982 (Colombia) |
| Assembly | Italy: Turin Argentina: Caseros Australia Chile: Rancagua Colombia: Bogotá Malaysia: Johor Bahru (KPKK) Spain: Barcelona (Zona Franca) Uruguay Yugoslavia: Kragujevac West Germany: Heilbronn (NSU Automobil AG) |
| Designer | Dante Giacosa |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | City car (A) |
| Body style | 2-door saloon, 4-door mini MPV |
| Layout | Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive |
| Related | Fiat 850 SEAT 600 Zastava 750 |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine |
|
| Transmission | 4-speed manual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,000 mm (78.7 in) |
| Length | 3,215 mm (126.6 in) |
| Width | 1,380 mm (54.3 in) |
| Height | 1,405 mm (55.3 in) |
| Kerb weight | 585 kg (1,290 lb) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Fiat 500 "Topolino" |
| Successor | Fiat 850, Fiat 127, Fiat 133 |
Measuring just 3.22 m (10 ft 7 in) long, its all-new design was Fiat's first rear-engined car, and was priced at 590,000 lire (the equivalent of about €8,680 or US$9,440 in 2023). The total number produced from 1955 to 1969 at the Mirafiori plant in Turin was 2,695,197.
The 1955 Fiat 600 also formed the blueprint for an even smaller sibling, the 2.97 m (9 ft 9 in) 2nd generation "Nuova" (New) Fiat 500, launched two years later – which was, although rounder in shape, largely copied from the 600's layout and design. Later, the 600's platform also formed the basis for the larger 850 saloon, coupé and spider, launched from 1964, which coexisted with the 600 in Fiats line-up for five years, until the 600 was cancelled.
During the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, many units were built under licence in countries such as Spain (as SEAT 600), where it became the cultural icon of the Spanish miracle and where it was nicknamed Seiscientos; Argentina, where it was nicknamed Fitito (a diminutive: "little Fiat") and former Yugoslavia where it was nicknamed Fića or Fićo (pronounced 'fee-cha' or 'fee-cho' respectively).
Fiat replaced their 500 and 600 with the 126 and 127 models, featuring much more modern, but again very similar styling, however where the 126 carried over much of the 500's underpinnings, the 127 was an all new, slightly more expensive design with a front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, and possibly a rear hatch. But in Spain, SEAT chose to develop a more affordable successor, the 1974 SEAT 133, updated with a similarly modernised body and interior, but largely reusing the Fiat 600 platform. For a while, Fiat also sold it as the Fiat 133, a cheaper alternative to the 127.