France now has its own ‘Italian Motor Village’ in Cannes, offering visitors a unique purchasing experience. Fiat’s ‘Italian Motor Village’ is a project started three years ago with the Mirafiori Motor Village in Turin, which was Fiat Group’s first all-purpose centre and also the largest European automotive showroom with 70,000 square metres and 600,000 visitors in one year. The roll-out of the ‘Italian Motor Village’ concept will continue with the next openings due in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy.
Indeed, in this “center of excellence” it is possible to appreciate the complete product range of Fiat Group Automobiles and, at the same time, “live” the brands thanks to the futuristic show-rooms, an elegant Cafè, a unique merchandising store and an all-purpose meeting and congress hall. It is quite possibly the best garage ever built… I’m assuming they’ll let me sleep on the couch.
EMPM, Esq
Not to be outdone, Chevy is going to do the same thing here in the US. Their version consists of a Chevy dealership with an elegant brand spankin’ new McDonalds, a Wal Mart and a Knights of Columbas hall attached. They have narrowed the names down to three choices: “Center of Awesomness”, “America, F@ck Yeah” or “Suck It, Fiat”. They have already designed a logo for the third choice in case it wins, it’s Calvin peeing on a Fiat logo.
Pontiac already has their own version built, it’s called AutoWorld and is located in Flint, Michigan.