Fiat does not build many cars like the Fiat 600: a 2-door saloon / 4-door mini MPV (600 Multipla) with 633 , built from 1955 to 1982 at the height of the post-war boom. Its designer of record is Dante Giacosa.
The background
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 of the first mass-produced minivans. 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
The engineering
Under the skin sits 633 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 585 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine hangs behind the rear axle, a layout that gives ferocious traction out of a corner and a reputation to match on the way in. The wheelbase is 2000 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Fiat's history is not in doubt: the Fiat 500 "Topolino" came before it; the Fiat 850, Fiat 127, Fiat 133 followed it; it was built at ubl | Italy: Turin | Argentina: Caseros | Australia | Austria: Graz (Steyr Puch) | Chile: Rancagua | Colombia: Bogotá (CCA) lower|0.2em| | Malaysia: Johor Bahru (KPKK) | Spain: Bar. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, the Chevrolet Corvette. Its Fiat stablemates include the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Fiat 600 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.