Is there any validity to the rumor that the new Fiat 500 will be sold in the United States

With the memory of the Strada/Ritmo fresh in the minds of the unfortunate people that bought & drove one, probably not. Fiats r better than they used to be; but buyers in the United States r really picky about reliability. This is something that FIAT would have to contend with if they every want to import in the U.S. again. l drove a Strada & though it was great on gas, the car rusted out within a year & everything that could break did. What was worse is that there were no parts available for it & the ones that u could get were expensive. This was for an economy car.

l wrote FIAT recently to ask if they had any plans to return to the US market with their fantastic new Panda. Their answer was a simple, ''No.'' FIATs are a lot better than people remember, and their new line is doing very well in Europe. If the Smart ForTwo can make it in the US, maybe the Panda, with four seats, will be welcome too.

Fiat has no plans to start selling cars in the US. They remember the fiasco of the 60 is and 70's.

Yes. Fiat 500 is being introduced to the US market by mid Agust 2007.