- The 2014/2015 edition of ‘FIAT Likes U’ was presented today in Milan at the Erasmus Student Network Annual General Meeting
- After its successful first season, the project crosses national borders and will touch five universities in five countries across Europe
- The project will include a fully free car sharing service for the students of 15 universities, 15 paid jobs as Fiat Ambassador for managing the project at each university in addition to paid on-the-job training opportunities and Lectio Magistralis with Fiat designers, engineers and managers
- The university fleet line-up will count Fiat Panda 4×4, 500L Trekking and 500L Beats Edition models
- eco:Drive: a new competition to award the most virtuous driver with a Fiat on free loan
- Proud partners of ‘Fiat Likes U’ are Erasmus Student Network, UStation university radios, Vodafone and Io Guido/ICS in Italy
The 2014/2015 edition of ‘Fiat Likes U’, the project created in 2012 by Fiat and the Italian Ministry of Education with the support of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, was presented at the Erasmus Student Network Annual General Meeting at Bicocca University in Milan today. The new edition will be expanded to include five European universities, to total no fewer than 15 universities and involve approximately 700,000 students.
The project will kick off at the universities of Turin, Pisa and Istanbul before setting off for four simultaneous legs in other three universities. It will end mid December 2015. Fifteen universities will be involved: Turin Polytechnic, University of Bari, University of Padua, University of Bologna, University of Florence, LUISS Guido Carli University, University of Milan Bicocca, University of Naples – Federico II, University of Palermo, University of Catania, Technische Universitat Munchen, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Universidad Tecnica de Madrid, Wroclaw University of technology, Istanbul University.
The choice to kick off a new edition of the project springs from the success of the first edition in which, for the first time in Europe, an automotive company joined the world of academia for a comprehensive, hands-on initiative in the mobility, study and employment area which is simple in concept and packed with opportunities. Numbers confirm its past success: the car sharing service was used to the full and demand was five times higher than availability. The eight available Panda and 500L cars travelled nearly 400,000 kilometres. Further proof that the project is a winner are the many interviews posted on You Tube and the 450,000 visitors to the dedicated likesu.fiat.it website.
More information on the 2014/2015 edition of ‘Fiat Likes U’ is available on the www.fiatlikesu.eu website.
Sustainable mobility
The project springs from Fiat’s desire to provide practical answers to the mobility problems of young people, who are increasingly focused on environmental and economic issues. Young people put the utmost emphasis on reducing environmental impact and at the same time seek cars with low fuel consumption and running costs, priced according to their spending potential and with suitable purchasing plans. Precise requests like these require equally precise answers. This is why Fiat is offering practical solutions, available now for everyone. Not by chance, the brand has expanded the project to involve other universities in Italy and Europe also via the ESN-Erasmus Student Network.
Entirely free car sharing service
With the objective of promoting sustainable mobility by means of rational use of vehicles and contributing to increasing awareness of environmental issues in universities, Fiat is making available a fully free car sharing service, organised jointly with the ICS managers of the various involved cities. Using the service is simple. Students simply need to log onto fiatlikesu.eu, book the car, pick it up in the dedicated area near the university and return it by the agreed time. The students can use the cars as they wish for 24 hours during the week or for a weekend. Furthermore, in the Italian cities where the “Io Guido” car sharing service is available, the Fiat Likes U cars can enter restricted-traffic areas and park free of charge.
Fiat Ambassador, 2000 euros for service managers and a car on free loan for the best two
A student – the Fiat Ambassador – will be responsible for coordinating the car sharing service at each university. These students will have a unique opportunity to put themselves to the test and showcase their management and organisational skills. They will attend a training course dedicated to the project and which will also introduce them to the technical and commercial aspects of the world of Fiat. They will receive a salary of 2000 euros during employment. And that’s not all. The two best Fiat Ambassadors will be awarded with a Fiat on free loan for one month.
Paid on-the-job training opportunities and 15 lectiones magistrales held by Fiat managers
“Fiat Likes U” is a wide-scope project which invests in young people and awards merit by offering opportunities for studying and employment. So, Fiat is offering from one to five paid on-the-job training programmes for each university involved in the project. Furthermore, a lectio magistralis will be held by Fiat Group Automobiles designers, engineers and managers in each university. The objective: to put the excellences of an international group at the service of young students to contribute in a concrete manner to their education.
The new Fiat 500L Beats Edition and Trekking have been chosen for the exclusive car sharing project
The university fleet involved in the “Fiat Likes U” car sharing project will include 500L Beats Edition, 500L Trekking and Panda 4×4. These models are completely new and encapsulate all of Fiat’s experience in sustainable, accessible mobility. Some features also make them ideal for car sharing, such as five doors, the great interior space and the flexibility of use.
More in detail, the 500L Trekking is a development of the 500 family with two perfectly fused souls which love to play off one another every day: one metropolitan, for breezing through the city, and one more adventurous, perfect for those little weekend emotions that make life worth living. The Fiat 500L Beats Edition is a new special series based on the 500L Trekking jointly created with Beats by Dr. Dre, the brand that in the wake of its success in the USA is rapidly establishing itself in Europe . Standard equipment includes BeatsAudio, a state-of-the-art sound system created by Beats by Dr. Dre with 520 Watt of total power, amplifier and DSP, eight channels and an advanced equalising algorithm.
The new Panda – the coherent evolution of a bestseller of which over 6.4 million units were sold over 31 years – will also be available. Today, the model comes of age in this third generation, offering more quality in terms of space, functionality, technology and safety features.
eco:Drive: a Fiat on free loan for the most virtuous driver
The Fiat models involved in the “Fiat Likes U” car sharing project all fit eco:Drive, the eco-friendly application developed by Fiat in 2009. The system analyses driving style by collecting onboard data and supplies personalised tips with the objective of reducing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by up to 16%. The best eco:Driver of all the students involved in the “Fiat Likes U” car sharing project will win a Fiat on free loan for one month and a free ticket for EXPO 2015 of which Fiat S.p.A. and CNH Industrial are Official Global Partners. For this new edition of “Fiat Likes U”, eco:Drive becomes social: students will be asked to link to their social network profile when they sign up. In this way, they will see the provisional ranking in real time and experience the competition live together with fans.
Vodafone is Partner of the ‘Fiat Likes U’ project in Italy
Erasmus Student Network, UStation – the university radio network, and Io Guido will be joined in Italy by another proud partner: Vodafone Italia. More in detail, all cars will have wifi 4G coverage and more. All ‘Fiat Likes U’ users will have access to Spotify Premium offered free of charge by Vodafone.
4 April 2014