Fiat Qubo 1.3 16v Multijet Dynamic DRIVING around in something that looks like Postman Pat's van might not be everyone's idea of fun.
When its colour is a luminescent metallic green rather than the anticipated Royal Mail red, then one might rightly imagine it would be even less appealing!
Despite my initial prejudices, I have to confess that I actually enjoyed my time at the wheel of the Fiat Qubo.
Yes, it might look rather odd, but it has just the right combination of practicality, and 'quirky' appeal to ensure it's a winner.
The first thing that impressed me was the magnificent visibility offered from the driver's seat, to the point where I felt a little like a coach driver with nothing but glass in front of, and around, me.
Vehicle cabins frequently get described as 'open and airy,' and the Qubo takes this to extremes with a feeling that is positively bus-like.
In essence it is one of the latest crop of budget MPVs that are more van-like than car-like - though it is based on the Fiat Grande Punto platform. Cheap and cheerful, they are designed to appeal to families who might love to have a big swanky SUV, but simply don't have the budget. Either that, or it serves as a second car that is functional first and foremost.
Union workers at the Termini Imerese plant have been protesting all week, demanding that Fiat provide more certainty on the future of the plant, which the firm has said is the most costly to operate of all of its plants.
After the workers occupied the town hall, politicians vowed to raise their concerns with Fiat in the coming weeks.
But Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Fiat is sticking to plans to convert the plant by 2012.
"Keeping all of the plants open and doing all these necessary things are... demands that are no longer feasible in a world that has drastically changed," he told reporters at an event at Fiat's research centre in this town near Turin in the country's northwest. "We can't turn back to a reality that no longer exists."
Marchionne said a single Fiat plant in Brazil made more cars than its six plants in Italy combined over the year. He has yet to say what he wants Termini Imerese to do if not cars.
He and other Fiat officials are to hold meetings with union and government officials in the coming weeks to discuss their plans for Fiat in Italy. Their plans are a likely extension of the one presented in Detroit Nov. 4 to revive Chrysler Group LLC, its U.S. partner.
Marchionne is also expected to discuss the possible extension of Italy's car scrappage scheme when he meets with the government next month.
With several of these schemes expiring across Europe, analysts fear that demand will fall once more, making 2010 a difficult year for carmakers already struggling to survive the industry's worst crisis in decades.
In an interview with Reuters, Montezemolo dismissed a suggestion by analysts with asset management fund Sanford Bernstein that Volkswagen AG could be the right buyer for the money-losing brand. He also said Fiat doesn't need an Asian partnership to match recent tie-ups by European competitors with Japanese automakers.
"We will present the new Alfa that substitutes the 147, and we think there are also very important opportunities for Alfa Romeo in the United States," Montezemolo said.
Alfa's aging 147 hatchback will be replaced early next year by the Giulietta, a car that may be Alfa's last new model. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has ordered a strategic review of the brand to consider whether to freeze substantial investments after the introduction of the Giulietta or to refresh Alfa's lineup using Chrysler Group platforms. Those platforms could be used to replace the aging Alfa 159 sedan and wagon and the discontinued 166 flagship sedan.
Alfa's new-car sales have declined steeply in the past decade as its range became older and new products were delayed.
Last year, Alfa sold 103,000 new cars, down from 203,000 in 2000. The brand has lost between 200 million and 400 million euros a year in the past 10 years, according to industry sources. Fiat does not release separate financial results for any of its brands.
Marchionne is expected to announce the future of Alfa early next year, when the Italian automaker presents its 2010 to 2014
Fiat 500 Pop 1.2
NEVER let it be said that little cars are born to be boring.
Fiat has proved without doubt that small is very definitely beautiful with its iconic 500 that hit the streets in 2008 exactly 500 hours after the start of the New Year.
The 500 is a nostalgic take of Dante Giacosa's iconic Fiat 500 of July 1957 and it was a very feeling strange getting behind the wheel of the new car because I can compare it to the original which I drove in the mid-1960s.
It is certainly not easy mixing the old with the new, but there are rules for success. Firstly any such interpretation must have modern handling, technology, safety, performance and ease of ownership.
It must also reflect the character of the original and just make you smile.
And that has been achieved without doubt with the 500. As soon as you see it you know that it is special.
Open the door and take in the 1950s styling cues and you know that you have a car that you will never treat as plain ordinary. This model, a basic 1.2 Pop featured a white steering wheel and trim with a painted red body colour dash. It really felt the part.
But where it does not feel like the original is in the technical department because it a benchmark in terms of safety and technology in its now highly competitive market segment.
Fiat says it represents a company blueprint for a future which embraces a modern approach, new brand strategies, radical innovations in customer relations and a lasting process of expansion.
An ambitious statement but the 500 certainly proves that Fiat means business. Its products have suddenly become much better built in addition to being far more attractive.
Maybe, just maybe, Fiat Group SpA's link with Chrysler Group LLC will translate into dazzling stock market success.
While some investment analysts think Chrysler is unsalvageable, and therefore of no use to Fiat, others are now taking the view that Chrysler is a turnaround story in the making, one that could lift the Italian auto makers' fortunes.
In a Nov. 20 note, UBS said Fiat's partnership with Chrysler in the near term is worth €1 ($1.49 U.S.) a share to Fiat, equivalent to 10 per cent of the Italian auto maker's latest share price.
"We continue to see value in Fiat as an agent of transformational change and not owning Fiat is akin to a risky bet against structural change in European autos," UBS analyst Philippe Houchois and his colleagues wrote.
The most bullish endorser of the Fiat-Chrysler partnership is Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley's European auto analyst. In a report published last month, he rated the shares a "buy" because the "current share price massively under-appreciates the substantial call-optionality that Fiat shareholders have with the tie-up with Chrysler."
Fiat, led by Italian-Canadian CEO Sergio Marchionne, owns 20 per cent of Chrysler, for which it paid nothing, and can boost it to 35 per cent under certain conditions, such as producing a car in the United States that achieves 40 miles a gallon. Mr. Marchionne and his team took management control of Chrysler in the summer.
Fiat shares, listed in Milan, have been among the industry's best performers, with one-year return of almost 108 per cent and a 6-month return of 28 per cent. The equivalent figures for France's PSA Peugeot Citroen are 94 per cent and 23 per cent. UBS downgraded Fiat to "neutral" from "buy" on Friday, not long after Fiat shares topped €11, more than three times their 52-week low. They closed the week at €10.
Mr. Marchionne's turnaround plan for Chrysler assumes the U.S. auto market will rebound to 14.5 million sales in 2014 - a figure analysts consider credible - from 10.5 million this year and that Chrysler's market share will rise to about 14 per cent from less than 10 per cent this year. Chrysler will rely on Fiat's small-car platforms to overhaul Chrysler's clapped-out fleet of passenger cars and small SUVs. The first Fiat-inspired cars are to reach Chrysler showrooms in 2011.
Mr. Jonas, of Morgan Stanley, thinks the synergies of combining the Fiat and Chrysler platforms and other business operations, such as purchasing, could average €1.7-billion a year starting in 2011.
In October, he valued Fiat's stake in Chrysler, plus the synergies, at €8.5 a Fiat share, raising his target price for all of Fiat to €16.80 a share.
The Creative version gets a bouquet of equipment to keep it fresh
A new variant of the Fiat Punto is launched in Brazil, in fact two new variants — the Punto Creative I and the Punto Creative II.
According to the Brazilian blogger, a new Punto with 1.6 ltr 16 valve flex engine is being tested in Brazil but the Creative I and II are the variants of the existing 1.4 ltr SAFIRE version.
MP3 CD radio, electric rear panel, knife type key, alloy wheels, rear spoiler and creative stickers are the goodies added to the Creative I.
While Fiat is already introducing Multi Air gasoline engines that cut consumption and emissions by at least 10 percent, it could go further, Giorgio Airaudo, a leader of the Fiom CGIL metalworkers’ union, said yesterday in an interview.
“It makes no sense for us to confirm production of old products,” Airaudo said by phone from Turin, where Fiat is based. “The government needs to link incentives to innovation.”
Unions are concerned Fiat may shift production of new models to North America following its alliance with Chrysler Group LLC. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne has urged Italy to retain payments for scrapping older cars and buying more efficient ones to buoy sales amid the economic slump.
Airaudo, whose union is the country’s biggest, with 370,000 members, said that while Industry Minister Claudio Scajola is right to say Fiat’s plant in Termini Imerese, Sicily, should stay open, the site could be put to better use.
The carmaker said in June it plans to continue production of the Lancia Ypsilon at the factory through 2011 and then use it for “other, non-automotive, production.” The plant is Fiat’s smallest in Italy and employs 1,400 people.
“Over time a lot of investment has been made in that factory and I’m told the quality of production is good,” Scajola said yesterday in Dubai.
Workers from Termini Imerese occupied the town’s city hall on Nov. 18. Scajola visted them the next day and said he’ll take up their concerns when he meets with Marchionne on Dec. 1. to review Fiat’s production plan.
Five Plants
Fiat, Italy’s largest manufacturer and biggest private employer, runs five auto plants in the country, with the workforce totaling 31,000. Marchionne plans to cut production in line with shrinking demand. Fiat says it loses 1,000 euros ($1,493) on every vehicle produced at Termini Imerese.
The company should bring electric-car technology to Italy through its link with Chrysler, Airaudo said.
“There’s no reason to limit the development of electric cars to the U.S.,” he said. “We should be developing new technology that we can sell in Europe.
Fiat already uses electric technology for its delivery vans, a segment where it sees the most demand. Lou Rhodes, who heads Chrysler’s electric vehicle development, has been charged with overseeing the same segment at Fiat, a Fiat spokesman said.
The Fiat 500 should be highly successful car when it launches in the USA. Sales numbers in the UK for the car have been quite favorable as the car was a top ten selling car in the month of October.
This was in accordance with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders who reported that the Fiat 500 sold 2,989 units last month. This was an improvement of 993 in sales for the Fiat 500 compared to last year.
“This is an incredible result for the Fiat 500 which we are, of course, delighted with,” says Andrew Humberstone, managing director, Fiat Group Automobiles UK Ltd. “Interest in this car has been sky high ever since we launched it here less than two years ago.
“The popularity of this superb vehicle speaks for itself and, with the launch this summer of the fantastic 500C, and the option of Start&Stop bringing further environmental benefits to the range, we’re sure we will see the Fiat 500 making even greater inroads into the UK small car market.”
In relation to the USA, Chrysler plans to introduce the 500 as their first car amongst many others which will grace US roads. Chrysler made this announcement recently and the car should hit sometime late 2010.
The Fiat 500 will be a great competitor to the MINI Cooper and some could argue that it is more stylish than the BMW made MINI.
The Cinema Against AIDS Gala in favour of AmFAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research), the association in charge of fund-raising for the fight against AIDS, is to be held on 21st May 2009, during the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The charity auction, now in its seventeenth edition, will be taking place at Hotel du Cap in Antibes this year.
This Panda might be cross – but its owners shouldn’t be! Fiat has given its popular supermini a rugged makeover to create the Panda Cross. The tough-looking urban runabout – based on the existing all-wheel-drive car – has an all-new bodykit with revised headlights and contrasting side panels.
[Source: Fiat]
Fiat has released details about the Fiat Punto Evo, the evolution of the Grande Punto, will make its debut at the next Frankfurt Motor Show. The Fiat Punto Evo comes with a wide choice of Euro 5 engines, including a 1.3 second generation Multijet 
The new Punto Evo also offers Start&Stop, the system that switches off and restarts the engine in stop-and-go traffic. Start&Stop is being introduced as standard on all Euro5 petrol and diesel engines. Another system making its first appearance on the Punto Evo is “Blue&Me-TomTom”, the new portable satellite navigation unit that lets you manage telephone, navigation and information functions on a practical colour touch-screen.
The grey 2010 Fiat Grande Punto which we featured last time, has been spied once again with minimum protection. The car is production ready, and will hit markets later in 2009.
The 2010 Fiat Grande Punto receives a new bumper and the upper half of grille shortened. Interior changes include a new dashboard. Mechanicals are rumored to be largely the same consisting of engines from 1.2-liter to the 1.9-liter displacement.
THE ABARTH NAME is set to adorn the convertible version of the Fiat 500, according to British automotive publication Autocar.
The 2010 Fiat 500C, due to arrive in Australian showrooms around the middle of next year, is expected to be available in both Abarth and Abarth Esse Esse (read ‘SS’) form, developing 99kW and 117kW via the same 1.4 litre Turbojet petrol engine that powers the Fiat 500 Abarth.
The first spy shots of new Grande Punto.
The cost of an updated version of Fiat Grande Punto will remain at the current model.
According to unofficial data, 2010 Fiat Grande Punto could debut in September of this year at the Auto Show in Frankfurt.
The 2010 Fiat 500C debuting at the Geneva Motor Show has the same dimensions as the coupe version: 3.55 m x 1.65 m x 1.49 m. It is also powered by the same three engines available in the hardtop: a 1.3-liter 75 hp Multijet turbodiesel, 1.2-liter 69 hp gad unit, or 1.4-liter 100 hp gas engine. The big difference is what Fiat calls, "a fully fledged window to the sky."
The 500C follows in the tradition of the original Fiat 500 and uses a rolling roof design that allows the car to retain the shape of the coupe. The soft top will be available in three colors (ivory, red and black) and sales should begin in Europe in the spring.
As to the Ram brand rumor, Reuters says its to serve as an umbrella for all of the Dodge trucks. However, with weakening demand for small trucks like the Dakota and sales of the Ram falling behind its Detroit rivals, we’re not sure there is any reason to change the way Dodge sells trucks.
"In 2008 we sold 108,000 vehicles, this year we should be at the level of 115,000-120,000," Sergio Cravero said at a presentation of the MiTo Multiair model.
"The 300,000 level remains our target for the future, but that can't be reached in 2010," he said.
Alfa Romeo's sales in Europe rose 10.4 percent in the first six months of this year to 59,283 units, according to figures from European carmakers' association ACEA. That gave it a 0.8 percent share of the market. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo; Writing by Jo Winterbottom; Editing by Dan Lalor)
Fiat Linea
Evocative of "freedom and emotion", this original 'cabriolet' pays homage to the open-top 1957 model whilst offering leading-edge solutions for mechanical units, powerplants and interior comfort. All this in authentic Fiat tradition giving access to higher segment engineering and technology hitherto unheard of.
2009 Fiat 500C: A worldwide preview of the Fiat 500C presentation took place at the 2009 Geneva Motorshow, before its launch throughout Europe.
