The Crank: Is Fiat (literally) stretching its 500 brand too far?

By John LeBlanc Let’s be honest: if BMW’s modern Mini had been a sales flop, we would never have seen the modern Fiat 500. Like the new Mini, the teeny Fiat is cute, cuddly, and fun-to-drive, with styling that harkens back to an original post-World War Two city car. And just as Fiat has copied BMW’s formula for a modern small car, it’s also mimicking the German automaker by expanding the 500 brand with a host of body styles and variants. Today, you can go down to your local Canadian Fiat dealer and get a basic two-door 500 hatch, a quasi-convertible, or a high-performance Abarth version. But just as BMW has grown the Mini brand (both in number of models and size (i.e. the not-so-mini Countryman), the Italian automaker is planning big things for its small car too. At this year’s Geneva auto show, Fiat unveiled the five-seat, four-door 500 L, seen above. It’s a Mini Countryman rip-off if ever there was one. Then, about a month ago, images of a 500X small crossover were leaked during a Fiat media presentation. And now, just this week, photos and patent drawings of a so-called 500XL seven-seat mini-minivan (in the vein of the Mazda5) popped up on the Interweb. According to sources, the L 500 adds about two feet to the length of the existing two-door. And the XL gains another half-foot to accommodate third-row seating. We may see the 500X and 500XL show up at the Paris auto show in late September. Or not. And none of these larger 500 models have been confirmed for the Canadian market. But ether way, do you think a 500 minivan is one 500 too far? Or like what BMW has done with its plethora of Minis (and supposedly, more to come), are more 500s a good thing? Sources: CarScoop, CarsUK

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