The restyled Fiat Grande Punto will be marketed as the Punto Evo, as we had predicted Thursday. The renewed vehicle from Turin will be the subject of a profound aesthetic makeover, concentrated mainly on the front end and the interior; the rear fenders will also be changed, with different side scoops. The strange thing, though, is that it is present in the same price listings as the Punto Classic and the current Grande Punto.

And yes, this is because this last one, the Grande Punto, will continue to be produced in the same way, with prices reduced by some thousands of Euros and a engine series reduced to the bare bones: all the remaining “survivors” will be fitted with the Euro 4 engine. Unlike the Punto Evo, which will be proposed with a Euro 5 engine equipped with Multiair (the presence of the 1.4-liter engine with 105 hp is almost certain) and, over the course of 2010, with the 900cc SGE.

From | Quattroruote

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The Alfa Romeo and Fiat models that will appear in the US after the Fiat-Chrysler deal have been revealed in an announcement from Robert Manzo, Executive Director of Capstone Advisory Group. The Fiat and Alfa models in the US will be the Fiat 500, the Panda, the Grande Punto, and the Alfa Romeo MiTo and Alfa Milano. These will be the first to be assembled in Chrysler facilities in the US.

The MiTo, Milano and Fiat 500 were already considered ideal for the American market, while the decision to export the Grande Punto and Panda is more surprising. These will be dressed in the Jeep brand and available only in 4×4 versions. Tom LaSorda, outgoing co-president of Chrysler has added that a future Chrysler will be based on the Fiat C-Evo platform.

In further news, the documents proposing the Fiat-Chrysler collaboration include future possible engines and transmissions to be built in America, with the debut models being the four cylinder 1.4 litre T-Jet and the new 3.0 litre V6 diesel. The adoption of the new twin clutch sequential DDC shift is also planned, substituting the Getrag automatic shift currently in use on nearly all the Chrysler models.

Source | Autoblog.com

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The guys at AutoWeek have released these new spy shots of the Fiat Grande Punto restyling. It appears that it will change only slightly from its current look, remaining faithful to the original design.

The front of the car will mostly undergo the changes foreseen for the exterior, while the interior will also see some touch-ups, but at this stage all we clean from the ugly covering protecting the dash from spying eyes is that the modifications could be quite significant.

Continue reading: Fiat Grande Punto: restyling spy shots

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Fiat has celebrated the production of one million Grande Punto cars, which is not a bad figure for a vehicle released on the market in 2005 as the heir to the first Punto (itself making 3,500,000 examples between 1993 and 1999) and the second series (reaching 3,000,000 cars from 1999 to today).

The more surprising detail however, is in the market request for methane cars: 24 percent of the new Grande Punto represents the Natural Power version, showing that perhaps the world really is on its way to adopting alternative fuels. Of production, 25 percent is made up of the Sport and Racing models, with some personalisation options (14 percent of customers opting for the stickers) and the Blue&Me system present in 30 percent of the vehicles produced.

The millionth Grande Punto is destined for the UK with a 1.4 litre T-Jet engine and the Rosso Passionale, or red passion, colour.

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The Fiat Grande Punto will also appear with the modern 1.6L Multijet engine, already seen on the larger Fiat Bravo. A 120hp version with common rail FPT will also be available.

The Sport model is set to be equipped with this engine, which will replace the 1.9L, 130hp top-range diesel, as part of the aim of progressively downsizing all engine models.

The 1.6 Multijet on the Punto will have up to 320Nm and will push the little Fiat to a maximum speed of 193 km/hr. It’s fuel efficiency is impressive for such figures, with only 4.8 litres of diesel consumed per 100 km, according to the company. With these numbers, the engine is certainly a more modern version than the 1.9L.

Continue reading: Fiat Grande Punto: Multijet 1.6L, 120hp on its way

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Fiat went off to the San Paolo motor show in Brasil, clearly with the intention to impress. As a kind of feature compayn at the event, Fiat took a show car and two other vehicles with stand-out personality to gain some spotlight.

The agressive dune buggy concept, FC II, was revealed with its lithium ion battery technology, capable of 80hp and 220Nm of torque. In reducing environmental impact the vehicle is also made from natural fibres.

Then with a totally different style was the Linea Monte Bianco with a captivating colour for the sedan, including 17-inch wheels and a couple of other touches that make it look almost comical.

Continue reading: San Paolo 2008: Fiat shows-off with hot wheels and Abarth

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Fiat Automobiles has officially confirmed the arrival of the new Grande Punto Natural Power. The new version introduces double petrol-methane fuel and arrives in a moment when alternative fuels are experiencing a huge request.

The strong points of the Grande Punto methane are definitely the automony of 310 km, through two 84 litre gas tanks, CO2 emissions of the 1.4 litre engine are Euro 5 ready at 115 g/km.

The Grande Punto Natural Power is also cost effective, thanks to state incentives for cars that have less than 120 g/km of CO2 emissions. This means the car will cost about 12,300 euros (less 2,800 from the state grants), and although we can’t expect grand performance with its 70hp and 104Nm of torque at 3000 rpm, you can at least drive around knowing you’ve made a relatively environmentally friendly choice. Maximum speed is 156 km/hr and acceleration to 100 km/hr is achieved in 16.9 seconds.

Continue reading: Fiat presents Grande Punto Natural Power: cars with alternative fuels

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The Fiat Grande Punto has won the prize “Imprensa Automotiva 2007″ in Brazil, one of the most important automotive awards in the country, since it is given by a jury of specialised journalists.

The jury was made of 63 automotive journalists coming from brazilian newspapers, magazines, radio stations and televisions.
The finalists in the category of ‘Best National Vehicle’ were the Fiat Punto, Chevrolet Vectra, Citroën C4 Pallas, Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf. The Fiat Punto won with a clean 77 % of share.

The small italian car was elected not only for its design, but also for being the only car on sale on the Brazilian market to offer the innovative Blue&Me system and for the good equipment in general. This is the second award in barely two months: in october the Brazilian-built Punto won another award, the “Inter-American Car of the Year”.

Via | ItaliaSpeed

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