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The Car of the Year 2008 award, which was given to the Fiat 500 by a jury of 58 specialist journalists from 22 European countries, was presented yesterday evening,28 January) at a ceremony in Berlin.  

Fiat’s supermini was not only the overall winner, but it also received votes from the largest number of jury members: 57 out of 58 included the car on their short lists, and 33 put it in first place.

It is the second A-Segment car – the first was the Fiat Panda in 2004 – to win the motor industry’s best known title, and brings the total Car of the Year titles won by Fiat Group Automobiles to 12.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who received the award, said: “We have gone a long way in a short space of time, and I am proud to be able to underline that Fiat was the fastest growing car brand in Europe last year. The 500 is not a final target for the brand, but just the first stage in the ongoing development of the ‘new Fiat’. Which is why we see the 500 as not just a car, but as a ‘travelling agenda’ of what we want to achieve.”

The Fiat 500 is the first car no more than 3.55m long to have been awarded five Euro NCAP stars, and its standard seven airbags are a ‘first’ for this category (its knee-bag is unique for a supermini). It is also the first car to be launched with a complete engine range (69 bhp 1.2, 75 bhp 1.3 MultiJet with DPF and 100 bhp 1.4 16v) that reaches Euro 5 emissions limits, more than two years before these become mandatory.

Mr. Marchionne has complained vocally this week that the ‘junk’ rating of Fiat shares is “obscene”, in the light his company’s 2007 results, which saw Fiat Group eliminate net debt.