FIAT History, Vol. 10
The Fiat 600
70 years ago today, March 9, 2025, the Fiat 600 was presented to the press at the Geneva Motor Show. A day later, it was revealed to the general public.
Produced from 1955 until 1969, the popular little car took only 6 years to sell 1,000,000 units and ended up selling 2,695,197 by the time Fiat stopped producing it in 1969. Under license to foreign automotive marques, the car sold almost as many units, reaching a global total of 4,921,626 copies produced by the time production ceased in 1985.
It was especially popular in former Yugoslavia, where it sold 923,847 units as the Zastava 600, 750, and 850 and in Spain, selling over 800,000 copies as the SEAT 600. Other countries producing the car included Germany, Argentina, and Chile.
Why was this little car so successful?
It was simple, affordable, and reliable. In 1951, Fiat was looking for an affordable car to compete with the VW Beetle and the Renault 4CV. Fiat’s Topolino was by now outdated and they wanted a new range of affordable cars. Project 100 was initiated to find a new champion for the Italian working class family.
To create the new design, Fiat turned to Dante Giacosa, the designer who had penned the Topolino, the same vehicle his new project was destined to replace. Giacosa was told to create a vehicle which could hold 4 people and luggage at a top speed no less than 52 mph (86 km/h), while weighing no more than 450kg (992 lbs).
As with the Topolino, Giacosa responded by hitting a home run. The 600 was the first rear engine car produced by Fiat. It featured an independent suspension, unibody construction, and an inline water cooled 4 cylinder engine. These features plus a 4 speed transmission synchronized in all but first gear, set it ahead of its rivals and made the 600 extremely likeable with female drivers.
Its tiny 633cc motor was enough to push the vehicle around at speeds up to 60 mph (95 km/h), exceeding its design goal. The motor eventually increased to 767cc, enabling a top speed of 68 mph. In 1970, the Argentinian version produced by Sevel introduced a version with a 843cc motor capable of 75 mph.
The interior was fairly spartan. However, that was expected from a car designed to be affordable to the average working class Italian family. One of the 600s best features when it was introduced was that, even though it added 2 additional seats, a better suspension, could go faster, and had more modern looks, it was priced lower than the Topolino it was replacing. Other innovations included a heater which blew air across the windshield to defrost it and a speedometer located in the center of the dash.
To top it all off, it was designed with safety in mind, too. It had a padded dash, as well as a crumple zone, one of the first cars to offer such features. What more could a young Italian mother want?
The 600 was an immediate hit, not only in Italy, but across Europe. So great was its success that Fiat soon faced up to a year backlog in orders. By 1961, 600s were flying off the assembly line at rates up to 1,000 units per day, a crazy number for that time period.
In 1956, at the Brussels Motor Show, Giacosa and Fiat introduced the 600 Multipla, the forerunner to modern 6 passenger cars and mini vans. It featured 3 rows of seats, with the back row being collapsible to create more cargo space.
Abarth also joined the act in 1956, producing tuned versions of the 600 under various names for the next 14 years.
In 1958, Fiat had Ghia create the Jolly. With wicker seats and a open fringed canvas top, Jollies were meant for the upper class. Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping mogul, kept one on board his large personal yacht. Mae West, Grace Kelly, and Yul Brynner all owned Jollies. The original Jolly was owned by Gianni Agnelli. In fact, the Jolly was created specifically for him.
Like the 500 which appeared a couple of years later, the 600 became an iconic car in Europe. It allowed the average working class family to own modern, reliable transportation. If you travel to Europe, you will still see some on the road, continuing to serve the common man for which it was designed a full 70 years ago.