Having finished the Mongol Rally last summer in a Fiat Punto, I just went to a local NorthWest Fiat Owners Club meeting here in Seattle a few weeks ago to give a little presentation about our trip (EPIC!).
Anyway, at their meeting they had one of the two new local Chrysler dealers who will be setting up their Fiat dealerships to talk about the 500. According to him, and corroborated by some press releases I've read online, Fiat USA will be following the Saturn and Scion (not sure if you have these in the UK, Saturn was a GM brand, Scion is a Toyota brand) model of "No Haggle" pricing. So, basically, dealers are not allowed to either mark up vehicles above sticker, nor offer deep discounts to compete with other dealers. Fiat will allow dealers to only be so close geographically to reduce competition. Despite Saturn's other failings, this was a pretty popular way to price cars, and it seems to work really well for Scion. Your car buying experience is all about customizing your vehicle instead of bickering over the price.
So, all that said, supposedly there will be no premium over sticker. The first 500 "Prima Edizione" were already reserved on a first come first serve basis, and when the rest start showing up in showrooms they'll be sold the same way, first come first serve. Supposedly the prices on Fiat USA's website (which I can't seem to post until I have 5 posts... so, um, Google it) are the prices we should expect them to be sold at.
Differences between the European and US models:
- bigger engine (at least, no 1.2L offered here anyway)
- more sound baffling
- different brakes/suspension/exhaust to meet US requirements
Also, no exact dates on when Abarth will be coming, but rumors are when it does make it here it will have 170bhp which I believe is more than what's available in Europe... but I won't believe too much until there actually is an Abarth sitting in my driveway. Since I'm not on the list for one of the first 500, I think I probably will wait and try to get one of the first Abarths as soon as they're available.
Can't wait!