Some manufacturers like VW and Ford have fantasy list prices so everyone can drive a deal.
Fiat are not adverse to doing this especially when a model is going to be replaced I remember the punto evo (brand new) being advertised silly cheap (less than second hand cheap) when they dropped the evo name and went back to just "punto" in 2012
And huge discounts off the 500L in the months following launch when it didn't sell as expected.
Even now they will knock a £1000 off a car and contribute another £1k to your deposit at the mere suggestion you're interested in buying a car
I have a fiat dealer 200yards from the house so often walk the dogs pasts and have a good look about at what's new, what strikes me is the lack of progress, the current punto offering is not all the different in materials and build quality from the 2006 grande I have parked outside, which was no better than my 2004 punto, which was only a marginal improvement over my 1999 mk1 punto.
The interior design of the current panda and 500L is a little improvement but is very much behind other manufactures. And the current "updated" 500 is really just an upgraded dash binical.
But fiat are very cheap compared to the others our 2012 Mini Cooper D would have been £22,000 when brand new and an equivalent top end fiat 500 (some thing like the Gucci) was only £15k so I wouldn't expect them to be compatible
In terms of quality and materials as well as the engine and equipment in our mini, even now fiat don't offer anything comparable and that includes the top end 500L which is supposed to be their current darling and costs are very similar.
Fiat are pushing the cheap factor, but I don't mind paying more for quality, although it's worth mentioning that the 1.6 bmw turbo diesel fitted in our mini and shared with the Bmw 1 series, although it's a very good engine it gets nothing like the mpg figures being quoted in this thread or by bmw, 70something mpg is more like 50something but it's still a very good engine, and the new modular 1.5 diesel is even better