The hugely successful 500, which was launched by Fiat earlier this year, has just been crowned Best City Car in the 2008 Auto Express New Car Honours. (UK-based Auto Express is one of the largest weekly magazines in the world.) In doing so, the 500 brings to an end an incredible run for the Fiat Panda, which took the magazine’s City Car title for four consecutive years.

The award-winning Fiat 500 is currently Car of the Year 2008 and has won a host of other accolades including CAR Magazine Car of the Year, Fifth Gear SmallCar of the Year, EuroCarBody 2007 and Auto Europa 2008.

Commenting on this latest honour, Auto Express says: “Reinventing a legend is never easy – but that is exactly what Fiat has achieved with its new 500.? In a class that’s now bigger than ever, the Italian star has proved itself a real winner. We define a city car as any model that has the compact dimensions and tempting price to make it perfect for urban living.?The 500 had to beat everything from smart’s fortwo to Renault’s Twingo.”