The SEAT 600 is a city car made in Spain by SEAT from 27 May 1957 to 3 August 1973, built under license from Fiat on the original Italian Fiat 600, designed by Dante Giacosa. It was offered in two-door saloon body style rear engine layout, although a four-door version was also offered as SEAT 800. It is considered a pop icon of the Spanish economic miracle.
Measuring only long, it was launched in 1957 at an initial price of 65,000 pesetas (€390.66) without taxes. SEAT manufactured up to 797,319 SEAT 600s – and 18,200 SEAT 800s – at its factory in Barcelona's Zona Franca. Almost ten percent of the production was exported to countries such as Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Finland, Poland, and Portugal. It was the best-selling car in Spain in 1958–1966, and in 1968, and in Finland in 1971–1973.
History
The Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo S.A., branded as SEAT, was born in 1950 as a joint venture of the Spanish state holding agency National Institute of Industry, six Spanish banks and Fiat. Almost all SEAT models up to 1982 were license-built Fiat-based cars, although the SEAT 1200/1430 Sport "Boca negra" and SEAT 133 were created in-house by SEAT in the 1970s.
Initially, some units of the original Italian model, the Fiat 600 –designed by Dante Giacosa and launched in 1955–, were imported to Spain, but soon the SEAT factory in Barcelona's Zona Franca began its own production based on this model, under agreement with Fiat. The first SEAT 600 manufactured left the production line on 27 May 1957. This unit was registered in Madrid on 5 December 1957 with the registration plate M-184018 and was in use until February 1985. This was not the first SEAT 600 registered, since the first one was registered in Barcelona on 8 June 1957 with the registration plate B-141141. Commercialization to the general public began on 24 June 1957.
With an initial launching price of 65,000 pesetas (€390.66) without taxes,