The Fiat 500 is not only one of the most attractive looking automotive designs to come from Italy in the 21st century, it's also the easiest car to look out of.

Claiming it's the attractive car of them all may seem like a big statement, yet we can more than back up that claim. Because the Fiat 500 has been elected 2009 ‘Design Car of the Year’ by 59 journalists from around the world .The Fiat 500, along with the Citroen C5 and the Jaguar XF, were selected as the finalists from a short list of 51 entries at the final round of judging at the New York International Motor Show.

Fiat’s smallest car took out the biggest prize of all. Four international design experts: Silvia Baruffali, Editorial Director of Auto & Design magazine, Robert Cumberford, design critic and journalist for Automobile and Auto & Design magazines, Akira Fujimoto, Editor-in-Chief of Car Styling magazine and Tom Matano, Executive Director of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, voted the Fiat 500 the winner.

“We are proud to receive this prestigious international award, as further endorsement of Fiat’s commitment to creating attractive, innovative cars, which express the best of Italian manufacturing capability,” said Roberto Giolito, Fiat’s Head of Design. “We will continue to work untiringly on innovative design and endeavour to combine the best of the future with the historical, cultural and industrial identity of the Fiat brand.”

But the new Fiat 500 is lot more than an Italian with a pretty face. The practical nature of its design was also given a great deal of credit, and that was much closer to home. Tests by the NRMA show the little car is the safest car in its class when it comes to avoiding blind spots.

Well aware of the risks posed when a driver simply cannot see properly due to the shape and design of some modern cars, the NRMA carried out a series of tests on some 138 vehicles. The testing involved rotating a laser beam 180 degrees from the driver’s seat to replicate a driver’s vision. The scores were calculated by taking into account the position of the windscreen pillars and how much each blocked ‘vision’ of the laser beam.

This problem of visibility from the driver’s seat is one we have highlighted many times during our road testing, so it's good to see the little Fiat being recognised for this important aspect of safety. It was the only small car to receive three stars out of five in the NRMA testing, and one of only a three passenger cars to achieve that score in any class. (4WDs, which are often criticised by those with an unreasonable hatred of them, frequently scored better in the visibility stakes than cars.)

The new Fiat 500 arrived in Australia just over a year ago, fresh from its victory as European Car of the Year for 2008. It's offered in three models, with the bright and breezy tags of Pop, Lounge and Sport. The colour chart features such shades as Cha Cha Cha Azure, Ye Ye Green, and Mod Blue, giving a clear indication as to Fiat's anticipated buyers. Then there is a multitude of striping and decal kits just in case you don’t think the new Bambino stands out enough in its own right.

There's a choice of engines and transmissions. Engines come as 1.2- and 1.4-litre petrol units, or a 1.3-litre turbo-diesel. Transmission choices are five- or six-speed manual and six-speed automatic. Not all engines and gearboxes are offered in all models.