Fiat introduces the 500L

[LeadFoot]

Fiat today released the first official images of the upcoming 500L, the larger, 5-passenger, please-don’t-call-it-a-station-wagon, multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) that will join the 500 and upcoming 500 Abarth in Fiat’s U.S. lineup next year.

As Fiat describes it: “With MPV passenger space combined with the feel of a small SUV on the road and the restrained dimensions and efficiency of a B segment car, the new Fiat model defies the conventional distinctions between the various segments, combining the typical characteristics of different categories in order to create a distinctive alternative to the traditional B and C segments.”

   

Previously known as “Ellezero” (L-zero) to the Italian press, the 500L is based on the platform used for the new Punto and derives some of its design cues from the popular Fiat Panda. The new car 500L will be produced at the Fiat plant in Kragujevac, Serbia. It will go on sale in Europe in the last quarter of 2012 and be offered there with three different engines, the TwinAir and 1.4-liter gasoline engines and the 1.3-liter MultiJet II turbodiesel.

   

The 500L will take its first bows at the Geneva Auto Show next month.