Fiat launch low-cost car in 2010
Fiat plans to reveal its low cost car somewhere in 2010. The new cheap Fiat will be an even smaller car than the 500 and Panda. The new model would be a low-cost vehicle targeted at markets in South America, Russia, India and China.
If the company decides it will wear the Fiat badge, it could revive the Uno nameplate and effectively replace the Palio (pictured above), which currently serves as Fiat’s “world car”, with production in Brazil, India, Turkey, South Africa, North Korea and China, in hatchback, sedan, wagon and pickup body-styles. Fiat’s close relations with Tata, makers of the Nano, could come into play, but one way or another, nobody does small cars like Fiat, so the competition had better take note.
The new low-cost Fiat will help with the company’s position in markets such as South America, Russia, India and China. It’s not known yet whether the new low cost car will be Fiat-badged or not, as there is a possiblity of a new brand being used. Fiat is still conducting internal studies on whether a low cost model could damage Fiat’s image.
Fiat return Alfa Romeo to US
Fiat is moving production of Alfa Romeo cars to the United States. Such a move would save money for Fiat, which is suffering from the relative strength of the euro against the dollar, and mark a return of the Alfa Romeo brand to the United States after withdrawing it in 1995. Fiat planned to start North American production of Alfa cars by 2011 or 2012.
Fiat is already talking to Detroit’s major carmakers about sharing production of Alfa Romeos in the United States.
Fiat, which recently returned to profit, is also looking to return its Iveco trucks division to the United States and offer the relaunched Fiat 500.
Fiat, which has owned Alfa Romeo since 1986, stopped exporting the car to the United States in 1995. General Motors held a stake in Fiat until 2005, when it refused an option to buy the company, paying a $2 billion penalty.