It’s attracted widespread critical acclaim, created an astonishing degree of interest and stoked up colossal passion… and now the new Fiat 500 is starting to bring in the awards. The latest of these comes from Fifth Gear, Channel 5 TV’s weekly motoring show, which has just crowned the 500 its Best Small Car of the Year – several months before the supermini is even launched in the UK.

Accepting the award at Fiat’s UK headquarters in Slough, Berkshire, Giulio Salomone, Managing Director of Fiat Group Automobiles UK said: “We are absolutely delighted with this great honour.

“Clearly the British public like what they see in our new 500 – already more than 5,000 have expressed an interest in ordering one – and it’s fantastic to see that motoring experts such as those working on Fifth Gear agree.”

The new 500 scooped one of only three category awards given in Fifth Gear’s annual honours, the others being Best Family Car and Best Fast Car. It was praised by the show’s presenters and production team for its style, handling, performance and build quality.