is exactly the problem. Along with antiquated concepts of manhood. We're better off without both.

What sort of maroon takes there self identity from the kind of car they drive?

...then maybe he should stop super-sizing and go on a damn diet. My favorite part of "Super-Size Me" is the scene where the girlfriend talks about how McDonald's has f^cked up the couple's sex life. The average height of the American male is less than 5'10". If he's remotely in shape, he can fit in a Fiat.

Furthermore, women make the vast majority of purchasing decisions in the average American family, and single women's purchasing power is comparable to that of single men. Yes, there is the latte-sipping soccer mom who drives the SUV, but the majority of women drive smaller cars. I'm 5'4" on a good day (average height for an American woman), and my Honda is perfectly proportioned for me, unlike the American car I used to drive. Fiat will be able to sell *plenty* of cars to American women.

P.S. This article is hilarious because it's true. And if you don't think it's funny, well, it probably just hit too close to home.

Absolute crap article

Yes, I understand parts of this were meant to be tongue in cheek, but the entire world is about to fall apart due to global warming, and I don't want to read one more article about how small fuel efficient cars are "un-manly".

Gas guzzlers are sociopathic.

Its not funny anymore.

Not only unmanly, but completely unsuited to the American market where families will not be fitting in micro cars...the American male is not small enough to fit into one of those runty little clown cars...

First of all, most American men can't fit in one of those teeny weeny little Fiats...my brother-in-law actually had one of those micro Fiats...it was so small, he could put his foot out and push it down the road, and lift it without effort...

NO guy will be buying any of those cars...trust me.

Too hard to have sex in the car.

The Detroit motorheads can take solace in the fact that Fiat also owns sex-on-wheels brands like Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo, and has partnerships with the legendary design houses Pininfarina, Giugiaro, and Bertone.

Can a nation of dudes whose sexual self-image was built on macho Jeeps survive the rise of the Little Mouse?

Italian men are possibly the most oversexed men on the planet. If this is because they drive Fiats, then I don't think American men will refuse the chance for the extra nookie.

"Boys only want one thing."

This site has some neat ideas. Journeytoforever.org

This thread got totally hijacked by all the car/racing nerds. "Dumb writer, doesn't even know about some obscure Italian racing car I read about in car and driver. It goes XX fast!" Talk about missing the point--geez.

who writes such wrong note gender generalizations is nobody I would want to follow or admire.

Is this supposed to be a funny article? I took it at face, figuring it is another attempt at straight faced male schtick.

But a much more serious problem looms: the potentially deflating effects on 100 million American men of outsourcing their sexual self-image to a company whose most famous product was known as the "little mouse."

If your sexual image is tied up in such a sorry state, sorry for YOU.

First off cars are women. Anyone who has ever turned a wrench can tell you that, and I say that with the utmost respect and love for both. Second off I am sick of "news" articles that report on the automobile industry because they usually start off "although I am no expert" or something to that effect. That is as smart as installing people with no car experience to the head of car companies. The Food Network got it right. Never have I seen a show where they start off "I've never cooked before but what the fuck."

I know of Dodge Rams with 5.9L Cummins engines and compound turbos that make 1500 lb-ft of torque and get 55 mpg on the highway.

Gary your report was full of pedestrian statements. If anyone wants to figure out what's happening I suggest they go to GreenCarCongress.com not reporters who just scream at the broken down car and hope the problem goes away.

Half of the oil is gone. The half that remains will be insanely expensive to extract. Within 5 to 10 years, gasoline will cost $8 a litre.

The car is finished, done. Electric cars are very nice nowadays, but they can never replace IC vehicles. We are already having trouble disposing of all the toxic cell phone batteries. Imagine a world where a billion or so car batteries have to be disposed of. And those batteries will need to be charged with coal generated energy, it can't happen.

The question is not whether Americans can survive Fiats, but whether they can survive bicycles and trains. Taking over the Middle East and Canada will buy some time, but not much.

How do you like them horses?

We're talking about ITALY, fahchrissakes! The home of Tazio Nuvolari, who had probably the biggest set of balls in the macho world of 30's racedrivers, Alberto Ascari, who put his F1 Alfa Romeo into the bay at Monaco, and Enzo Ferrari, who drove for the Alfa factory in the 20's before starting the world's most successful racing car company and the world's best luxury sports car company.

I could put an average 'Murican male Corvette Driver in a position riding shotgun to an average Italian Alfa Romeo driver, even a Fiat driver with a more powerful car, and the 'Murican stud would turn green after a couple of miles. Road racing is the national sport over there. These people not only go fast in a straight line, they go flat out around corners--something the average Corvette driver doesn't often do.

That's a Fiat 500 ("Cinquecento") in the photo, not a 600. Big difference: only two cylinders and it's air cooled (no radiator). The 600 had 4 cylinders and was water cooled. I own one (500) here in LA and am toying with affixing a Chrysler logo just for the heck of it. The current 500, by the way, was voted the world's sexiest car. I didn't make this up: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/motoring/article-1140802/Join-coolest-car-club-town-Why-Fiat-500-new-sex-symbol-Liz-Hurley-Agyness-Deyn.html