Forget the 500. How about making sports cars again Fiat?
NOWADAYS, Fiat is a manufacturer renowned of building small cars. The Panda, the Punto and the best known one is the 500. Unless you have a long memory, the Italian manufacturer does have a history of building sports cars.
When we speak of sports cars, it's natural (for us Brits) that we mention the likes of MG, Triumph and Lotus. A lot of classic sports car come from Blighty, but the Italians are also well known for building them too.
Excluding supercars, you can write a list of sports cars to come from the Italy. Of course there will be the Alfa Romeo Spider and the Lancia Monte Carlo on the list. At least a couple of them will have been made by Fiat. They have enjoyed success in making sports cars throughout the years. With the 124 Spider, 131 Coupe, X/19 and their more recent ones, the Coupe and the Barchetta.
Since the Barchetta ceased production in 2005, Fiat haven't made any sports cars. Instead, they've been concentrating on making small cars which they believe their future lies with and rightly so. The success of the 500 and the Panda speaks for itself.
At the moment, I think that Fiat appear to be too reliant on the 500. More so seen with the range extended with the recent 500L and MPW. However, I personally think that Fiat can strengthen their position by making a sports car again. I'm not just saying that because of their track record. There is also a healthy market out there as seen with the Toyota GT-86, the Peugeot RCZ and the Volkswagen Scirroco on sale.
I've always liked the Coupe from the 1990s. The crisp, sharp lines styled by Pininfarina is a work of art for a mass market car. The turbocharged, 20 Valve, five pot engines were cracking units that were lively performers willing to get up and go. Fiat could make a car like that in a similar vein to the Nineties classic. They could be onto a winner.
Excluding supercars, you can write a list of sports cars to come from the Italy. Of course there will be the Alfa Romeo Spider and the Lancia Monte Carlo on the list. At least a couple of them will have been made by Fiat. They have enjoyed success in making sports cars throughout the years. With the 124 Spider, 131 Coupe, X/19 and their more recent ones, the Coupe and the Barchetta.
Since the Barchetta ceased production in 2005, Fiat haven't made any sports cars. Instead, they've been concentrating on making small cars which they believe their future lies with and rightly so. The success of the 500 and the Panda speaks for itself.
At the moment, I think that Fiat appear to be too reliant on the 500. More so seen with the range extended with the recent 500L and MPW. However, I personally think that Fiat can strengthen their position by making a sports car again. I'm not just saying that because of their track record. There is also a healthy market out there as seen with the Toyota GT-86, the Peugeot RCZ and the Volkswagen Scirroco on sale.
I've always liked the Coupe from the 1990s. The crisp, sharp lines styled by Pininfarina is a work of art for a mass market car. The turbocharged, 20 Valve, five pot engines were cracking units that were lively performers willing to get up and go. Fiat could make a car like that in a similar vein to the Nineties classic. They could be onto a winner.
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