Execs at Fiat have been so impressed with the cute and cheeky design of the 500 that they have promoted its designer, Roberto Giolito, to the head of design at Fiat Automobiles. During his time at the Fiat advanced design studio, Giolito created the Trepiuno concept that was unveiled back in 2004 and later turned in to production reality.

The 500 has been an unexpected sales success for Fiat, with orders far outweighing supply and causing Fiat to ramp up production 25% to 150,000 cars a year.

In other Fiat design news, Christopher Reitz, who previously held the title Roberto Giolito will be taking, is now looking after advanced design for the Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Abarth and Fiat Professional brands. Fiat Group subsidiary Maserati will also get a head designer in the form of Lorenzo Ramaciotti, taking over from the fantastic design work done by Italdesign-Giugiaro and Pininfarina.

Fiat’s product and design-led turnaround has surprised almost everyone and taken the company from years of massive losses to large profits now and for the forseeable future. If the 500 is any indication of what’s in store for the company, we think they will continue to prosper.