While it’s 27 inches longer than the original Fiat 500 Coupe, the Italian maker’s new 500L is positively minuscule when parked alongside more mainstream crossovers, SUVs and minivans.
Slip inside, however, and you may be in for a surprise. Despite the Fiat 500L’s pint-sized footprint, it offers as much interior space as the big Chrysler 300 sedan. Big things can come in small packages, or so Fiat hopes more and more Americans will discover.
The Italian maker got off to a “pretty poor launch” in late 2010, its new U.S. chief executive Jason Stoicevich admitted during a media preview of the 500L in Baltimore this month. But the original 500 line suddenly seemed to click with consumers last year, as 2012 sales surged to 43,000, slightly more than anticipated. Fiat has even more ambitious expectations for this year now that second model line is rolling into showrooms.