Fiat Drops Official Info on New Dodge Dart-Based Viaggio Compact Sedan

After the first photos of Fiat's Viaggio leaked on the web (pun not intended) on Thursday, the Italian carmaker decided it was time to officially release the teaser images and provide initial details on the compact-sized sedan model.

The Viaggio will have its world preview at the 2012 Beijing International Auto Show on Monday, April 23, before it goes on sale in China this fall. The car's name is Italian for voyage or journey, while Fiat says its Chinese name 'Fei Xiang' means flying.

As is evident from the teaser photos, the Viaggio is based on the 2013 Dodge Dart, which in turn, uses Fiat's new CUSW (Compact US Wide) platform derived from the Compact architecture originally developed for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

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Fiat Rumored to Bring Bravo Successor to the U.S. Market

The launch of the Fiat 500 in the U.S. market has whetted the Italian company’s appetite, as according to reports, Fiat is now considering the addition of a second model to its North-American range, the successor to the Bravo. As we wrote last month, the next-generation Bravo will take the shape of a small crossover with Fiat looking to emulate the success of Nissan's Qashqai.

The 500's early sales figures have exceeded the firm’s expectations despite initial concerns about relaunching the Fiat brand in the U.S. with such a small car. The partially open-top 500C was added to the range recently, with more powerful Abarth versions to follow in the very near future.

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Fiat Tries to Revive Bravo Sales with Better Equipped and Lower Priced MyLife Version

Fiat's slow-selling Bravo compact model has received a new version, called “MyLife” that comes with some minor styling updates, additional standard features and more competitive prices. On the outside, the Bravo MyLife sports a glossy black finish for the upper and lower grilles, B-pillars and fog light framings, plus new 16-inch two-tone wheels and chromed door handles and grille borders. The Golf-sized hatchback is available in two colors, Distinct Grey and Superb Red. Read more »

Fiat to Replace Slow-selling Bravo with a Small Crossover in 2013

Following in the footsteps of Nissan and its Qashqai small crossover that proved to be a success for the Japanese automaker, Fiat has decided that the Bravo's replacement won't be a conventional hatchback as initially planned, but a high-riding C-segment hatch.

The decision was made at the end of last month and the new car will launch in 2013, according to inside sources quoted by Autonews Europe. The Fiat Bravo didn't make it in the list of Europe's 10 best sold compact cars in 2010, whereas the Nissan Qashqai placed fifth, with 216,091 units. In comparison, Fiat sold 44,850 Bravos, while the segment leader, Volkswagen's Golf, enjoyed sales of 501,671 units.

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Fiat Debuts Uno Cabrio and Mio Concepts along with New Uno Sporting at Sao Paulo [Live Photos]

In addition to being one of Fiat's most important markets, the Italian automaker is also getting ready to celebrate its 35 years in Brazil next year, so it comes to no surprise that the company is exhibiting a total of 30 vehicles at this week's Sao Paulo Auto Show. The Uno Cabrio and Mio [or FCC 111] concept models and the new Uno Sporting and Bravo production models, are among the highlights of Fiat's display.

Beginning with the Uno Cabrio, this concept study is a two-seater drop top variant of the South American market Uno supermini. In addition to losing the Uno's top and rear seats, the quirky looking roadster model also sports an aggressive bodykit with newly designed front and rear bumpers and a set of 17-inch alloy wheels.

The engine of choice is the same one as of Punto T-Jet, a 152HP 1.4-liter turbo which is capable of carrying the Cabrio to a top speed close to 200 km/h [124mph].

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Fiat Bravo Hatch Receives Minor Updates for 2010

Fiat has announced details on its 2010 Bravo hatch that has received a few minor changes here and there for the model year. On the outside, the Bravo's upper and lower front grilles have been re-trimmed and are now offered either in black or chrome finish while the headlamps on all models are smoked.

Furthermore, the mirrors and door handles are finished in the color as the body on all trim levels while Fiat added two new colors to the palette (a different shade of gray and a pear finish).

A new set of available optional packages and the refreshed designs and colors for the seat and door panel upholstery complete the list of changes.

Fiat said that despite the upgrades, prices for the 2010 Bravo remain at the same levels as the 2009 model ranging in Italy between €16,650 (about US$24,200) for the Active 1.4 90HP and €24,300 (around US$35,300) for the 2.0 Multijet 16v 165HP DPF Emotion and Sport.

The Bravo, which shares its underpinnings with the Lancia Delta (but not the Alfa Romeo Giulietta which is built on the Fiat Group's new C-Evo platform) competes in the European C-segment against the likes of the Opel Astra, Ford Focus, VW Golf and Renault Megane.

Analyst Forecasts New Chrysler and Fiat Models Until 2012 Including Jeep based Alfa GTX SUV

Research firm IHS Global Insight (GI) has released a new analysis forecasting a variety of Chrysler and Fiat Group models to be built in North America between 2011 and 2012. Before we say anything else, we'd advise to pay attention to the words 'analysis' and 'forecast'. That said, don't take everything you read as a fact. The report begins with the Alfa Romeo 169, a BMW 5-Series rival that is said to be built at Chrysler's Ontario factory in Canada with the first models rolling off the assembly line as early as November 2011.

The analyst predicts that the 169 will be based on Chrysler's LX platform which underpins the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger models. While it makes sense for the Italians to use the LX platform, unless Fiat is planning to simply re-skin / re-mask the next-generation Chrysler 300 into an Alfa, in which case, we're talking about a mistake from Fiat's behalf, saying that that the Alfa Romeo 169 will be ready to enter production in about two years time, is quite optimistic. Plus, as you can see in one of Fiat's previous product plans, Alfa was supposedly scheduling to introduce a self-developed 169 in 2009 - what happened to that?

Talking about the LX platform, the forecaster said that due to the bankruptcy of Chrysler LLC and the plant closures, the start of production of the new 2011 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 have been delayed to November 2010 and January 2011 respectively.

Continuing with the North American-built Fiat models, Global Insight said that the highly successful in Europe, 500 mini, will be made in Toluca, Mexico with U.S. sales starting in July 2011.

The MINI-rivaling 500 will be the only Fiat-badged model to be sold in the States. Since the 500 is based on Fiat's 169 platform, the Toluca plant will also produce the Jeep Panda 4x4, again from July 2011. We're guessing that the Jeep variant will most likely be a remasked version of the European market Panda 4x4.

Next up we have an array of models based on the Fiat Group's C-EVO platform that underpins C-segment cars like the Lancia Delta and Fiat Bravo. The report says that the C-EVO will be used on the next-generation Dodge Journey crossover, Dodge Caliber crossover and Chrysler Sebring sedan. Production is slated to begin for the Journey and Caliber in July 2012 at the Belvidere Assembly Plant, and for the Sebring, in June 2011 at the Toluca assembly plant.

In addition to the above models, the C-EVO platform is also reported to form the base for an Alfa Romeo compact SUV (no date) and weirdly enough, for the successor of the Jeep Liberty (July 2012) with both SUVs said to be produced at the Toledo plant in Ohio.

But the report gets even better as it is predicted that Fiat will produce a larger Alfa Romeo SUV model called the GTX at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant beginning in July 2011. The GTX is said to be based on Jeep's WL platform that underpins the 2011 Grand Cherokee. However, bear in mind that the Grand Cherokee's WL platform is derived from Mercedes-Benz (it was developed during Daimler's reign over the company) so we're not entirely sure if Fiat has the rights to use the platform for one of its own models.

The paper ends with two subcompact hatches, the Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo MiTo that will share the same hardware- aka Fiat's 199 B-segment platform. Both cars are reported to be built for the American market at Chrysler's Belvidere assembly plant in Illinois with production slated to begin in March 2011 for the Hornet and July 2011 for the MiTo.

Call us skeptics, but if you want our opinion, we find the forecast extremely optimistic in the sense that Fiat will not only have to develop, design, engineer and test a whole bunch of new cars but also revamp Chrysler's North American factories to build the vehicles and all this in just two years from now.