TURIN – Fiat is considering sending a sporty version of its reborn 500 minicar to the US to compete with the Mini Cooper. But the car would not wear the Fiat badge.

According to high-ranking sources within the Fiat Group, who spoke with Automotive News Europe under condition of anonymity, CEO Sergio Marchionne's idea is to export the Abarth 500, the sporty, 120hp version of the Fiat 500.

Exports could begin sometime after 2010.

If the plan is approved, the cars would be sold in large cities, mainly by selected Alfa Romeo dealers. Alfa plans to return to the US in the first half of 2009 with a three-model range.

The Abarth 500 will cost more than €15,000 in Europe, or about $20,195 at current exchange rates. The Mini Cooper has a base price of $18,700 in the US.

"We cannot exclude our new 500 would go, in some forms, to the US market, but not shortly," Marchionne said recently at a press event for the Fiat Linea sedan.

Confident Fiat

Marchionne's willingness to compete in the US is a sign of the growing confidence of Fiat, which two years ago was on the verge of bankruptcy.

"Fiat's new 500 is an interesting concept. The success of the Mini suggests there is a market for deliberately retro, nostalgic small cars, and customers will pay a premium price," said Max Warburton, European auto analyst at UBS in London.

Fiat will launch the new 500, a remake of the iconic minicar, on July 4 - the 50th anniversary of the original 500.

Fiat expects to sell 58,000 units of the new 500 this year, with the assembly plant in Tychy, Poland, reaching full capacity of 120,000 units in 2008.

Fiat will price the new 500 close to the Mini - prices are expected to start around €11,000.

But Marchionne is not rushing to bring the Fiat brand back to the US. He is convinced that the market is not structurally ready to move to smaller cars.

Marchionne said, "I have seen it in the '70s, in the '80s and partly also in the '90s. The US consumer gets attracted by small cars when oil prices skyrocket, but as soon as gas prices return to normal, so does the consumer attitude."

Fiat stopped selling cars in the US in 1983.

You may e-mail Luca Ciferri at lciferri@craincom.de