Fiat
On the sidelines of the latest economic announcements relating to the Stellantis group, the CEO Carlos Tavares has unwittingly put the rumors around the new Punto back on track. We have been talking about the phantom new model for over two years now, practically since the production of the last specimens ended. At the time, SUVs and crossovers were attacking the B-segment as well as competition from other brands, and Fiat was definitely not in the revival phase it is going through at this time.Leaning on plans for global electrification of Stellantis, the new Punto will also be offered in EV model form and should come from the Polish factory in Tichy (which also produces the Renegade, among others). Tavares, of course, has been careful not to reveal the slightest detail but has confirmed that we are talking about a vehicle belonging to the classic B segment. That is: the "medium" cars that once dominated the streets of big cities and which have recently given way to compact crossovers.
As always happens when the declarations are very vague, the rumors around this project are they are multiplied by recovering old hypotheses. There are those who speak of a single model conceived as the heir of the Punto and those who instead give as certain at least three examples: a B-suv, a new car for the B segment and a crossover inspired by the Fiat Centoventi (which you see in the photo below) . The latter represents the design guidelines that should be applied to most Fiat cars from 2023 onwards. In any case, none of this has appeared in the Stellantis ads and is therefore to be taken with the proverbial pliers.
What is certain is that the entire group is focusing (like most of its competitors) on the energy transition at all levels and on all markets. So none of the next cars will be able to focus exclusively on petrol or diesel. From here to totally changing the appearance of the car, or transforming it into a crossover, we pass it and hopefully the new Fiat car will not choose this path. The success of the Grande Punto and the “sister” Opel Corsa (click here to find the proof of the electric model) has shown that similar models can coexist, just design them in the best way.
Fiat Punto set for 2023 reboot with Peugeot underpinnings
TURIN, ITALY - The Fiat Punto hatchback was quietly discontinued three years ago, after 25 years and three generations, with the last iteration sticking around for 13 of those years. But now the Fiat Punto looks set for a reboot in 2023, with completely fresh underpinnings.
According to Carscoops, parent company Stellantis revealed during a recent presentation that Fiat planned to launch a brand new B-segment vehicle in 2023, and that it would be based on a “common” platform.
The logical assumption here is that the Punto successor will move over the CMP platform, which originated as a Peugeot architecture but which now looks set to underpin a wide range of vehicles across the Stellantis group’s 14 brands. CMP currently underpins the Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa, and interestingly this won’t be the first time that the Punto has shared a platform with the latter as the third-generation Punto was related to the fourth-gen Corsa through a commonly-developed architecture.
The Fiat Punto successor will more than likely share its oily bits Peugeot 208, but with unique Italian styling on the outside.Given that the 2023 Fiat Punto will likely be closely related to the latest-generation 208 and Corsa, you can expect it to be offered with Peugeot’s 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, in normally aspirated and turbocharged form. It’s also very likely that it will follow its French and German siblings in offering a fully electric variant, particularly given Fiat’s ambition to make electric cars more affordable.
In fact, the Punto could very well be Fiat’s last internal combustion powered compact car. Back in June, Fiat boss Oliver François said that the Italian car brand would gradually transform its line-up to electric only between 2025 and 2030. In fact, the new-generation Fiat 500 is already the first Fiat product to offer battery power only, although the older generation model is set to stick around for a while as a more affordable internal combustion alternative. CEO François said he believed Fiat had a duty to make electric cars as affordable as their ICE equivalents, but cautioned that this would also depend on battery prices coming down.