Fiat 500 by Diesel – now it’s the convertible 500C by Diesel

The Fiat 500C by Diesel

Fiat are launching a convertible version of the Fiat 500 by Diesel – the Fiat 500C by Diesel – featuring denim upholstery, yellow brake callipers and a limited colour choice.

Fiat has been trying hard to churn out as many limited edition versions of the 500 as MINI have managed on their own re-created motoring icon. That’s probably an impossible target (we reckoned that MINI managed a new model a month last year) but that’s not going to stop Fiat having a good old bash at milking the ‘Limited Edition’ market.

One of the earliest limited edition specials from the Fiat 500 was the ‘Style’ makeover from designers Diesel. That was launched as far back as December 2008 and featured such scintillating goodies as denim interior trim (so stylish), yellow callipers and a limited colour palette (you wouldn’t want to let the buyer choose their own colours as they obviously don’t have the taste – unlike the creators of denim upholstery).

So we now get the Fiat 500C by Diesel which is – surprise, surprise – almost exactly the same as the Fiat 500 by Diesel except the roof gets chopped off. You get a set of 16″ alloys and a new bit of trim at the back with fake air vents. You get the same yellow brake callipers and denim trim as on the tin top and there are four engine options on offer – the 1.2 and 14 petrol and the 75hp and 95hp versions of the 1.3 multijet diesel (as in engine, not designer).

Colour options are again limited to just three, including a Midnight Indigo which apparently “is reminiscent of the look of stone-washed fabrics” with a contrasting ivory rag top. Which is actually a pretty good looking combination (maybe they do know what they’re doing with the colour palette).

The Fiat 500C by Diesel gets a launch on Monday – in Japan of all places. Apparently the original 500 by Diesel was consider super-dooper Euro chic in the Land of the Rising Sun, so Fiat are capitalising on that somewhat odd circumstance.

We don’t have UK prices yet, but it looks like the starting price is €18k in Europe with sales starting next month.