It’s not just the remarkable new Fiat 500 that is winning awards for the Fiat Group across the world. As the stylish new city car was scooping the prestigious Car of the Year 2008 title, two other Fiat models were also displaying winning ways.

In Brazil, the Fiat Grande Punto has been elected Carro do Ano 2008 by a panel of 37 journalists from the country’s national specialist press. It’s the most prestigious accolade in the Brazilian automotive industry and was comfortably won this year – the Grande Punto scored 235 compared with the Citroen C4’s 208 points, Nissan Sentra’s 152, Renault Logan’s 146 and the Chevrolet Vectra GT’s 134.

And now the Fiat brand has brought home the coveted AUTOBEST 2008 award with its Linea model. The title’s international media jury was made up of specialist journalists from 15 European countries including Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey, demonstrating the versatile C-segment saloon’s cosmopolitan appeal.

With a winning points total of 850, the Linea again finished in a commanding position. The second-placed Kia C’eed managed 784 points while third-placed Mazda 2 scored 705. Skoda’s Fabia scored 679 while the Toyota Auris was awarded 583.

The tough AUTOBEST award is made from a final shortlist of five cars on the basis of 13 elements including design, comfort, economy, driveability, price and value for money.

These latest two impressive accolades join the many others that the Fiat 500 has received during the final months of 2007. These include Car of the Year 2008, Auto Europa 2008, EuroCarBody 2007, Auto Trophy, Fifth Gear Car of the Year, and CAR Car of the Year.

The Fiat 500 has also just been voted best City Car in the BBC Top Gear Awards 2007.

Source: Fiat