It had to happen: since most European brands have created "eco" signature labels to mark their lowest-CO2 emitting models, it's time for Lancia, which belongs to the Fiat group, to do the same. What's it called? The "Ecollection."
Lancia has modified its Musa model, the subcompact minivan showed above, to produce less than 119 g/km of CO2 (118 for the automatic version) by means of using the well-known1.3 Multijet diesel engine found elsewhere in other Fiat-group models, reducing the suspension and installing some aerodynamic tweaks. Prices start at €18,990 in Spain, where the Muso Ecollection is elligible for another low number: 0 percent tax.
Most ABG readers probably don't know Italy's Innocenti. Born as a scooter manufacturer, it used to make the Mini for the Italian market, then it was bought by British Leyland and then sold to Fiat. It's the brand where the Y10, which now is called the Lancia Ypsilon, was born. Well, it seems that it might be coming back and become Fiat's "budget" brand, as Dacia is for Renault. According to Autobiz, Innocenti could be the chosen name for Fiat's latest acquisition in Serbia, Zastava, former makers of the (in)famous Yugo. This could be quite a move, because Innocenti cars, such as the one pictured above, were known to be small, zippy and great performers.
Fiat is reportedly planning on introducing a natural gas-fueled version of its Palio compact in the Indian market in 2009. Compressed natural gas is a popular fuel in India, especially for buses. There are also experiments ongoing with using Hythane, a blend of 10 percent hydrogen gas along with the natural gas. The Palio hatchback is already available with both gas and diesel engines in India. Fiat is planning several vehicle introductions in the coming months in India including the tiny 500 and locally-produced versions of the Grande Punto and Linea. The 500s will be imported from the plant in Poland that produces them for the European market.
[Source: MyIris.com, thanks to Justin for the tip]
Fiat Spain has decided to make an effort to reduce the amount of water used to wash cars by using a special wax. The wax will be used at dealers and repair shops when cars are cleaned before delivery to customers. What will it do? Fiat expects the wax to reduce water use by up to 145 million liters of water (about 40 million gallons) per year.
The wax treatment is part of Fiat's "Ecoproject," which aims to offer customers greener dealers and post-sale services. Other "Ecoproject" measures include discounts for customers with the greatest "ecologic" commitment (whatever that means) and free "green" check-ups.
Fiat was recently named the lowest CO2-producing automaker in Europe. One reason if the brand's collection of small cars, some with alternative powertrains. Buried in an article about Fiat's low-CO2 win, reader Justin C. noticed that Fiat is readying a new version of its Grande Punto, one that can use methane for clean forward motion. Carpages says that the methane-petrol dual fuel system Grande Punto is supposed to be on sale by the end of this year. Other Fiat models that have this system include the Doblò, Doblò Cargo, Multipla, Panda and the Panda Van. Fiat says the Natural Power system is excellent for many Fiat users, especially trade customers. Fiat also offers a T-Jet version of the Grande Punto that gets 35 mpg on the combined EU cycle and emits 155 grams of CO2 per km. Thanks to Justin C. for the tip!
During the last few decades of Communism in Eastern Europe, Fiat had several licensing deals with manufacturers in the region to produce obsolete versions of their cars for sale there. Results of these deals included Russian Ladas and perhaps one of the worst imports of all time, the Yugo, built in the former Yugoslavia by Zastava. Yugoslavia no longer exists but Zastava is still around in Serbia producing Fiat-based cars for the Balkan market. Yesterday, Fiat announced its intention to purchase a controlling interest in the automotive operations of Zastava. The plant in Serbia will become the sole source of a new mini-car to be badged as a Fiat. Starting in 2010, the Zastava factory will build a car that is a spiritual successor to the old Fiat Topolino that debuted in 1936. The new Topolino will be based on the platform of the 500 and Panda but it will be even shorter. Unlike the original Topolino, the new car will be at least nominally a four seater.
According to an article in The New Economic Times, Fiat is planning to launch a new ethanol-powered engine for the Brazilian market. Ethanol is widely used for fuel in Brazil and half of the country's sugar cane crops are currently used for its production. Fiat intends the motor to be run on fuel that the ethanol producers create themselves, saving on taxes. What is most interesting about this story, though, is that it seems the new engine will be based on a current diesel block. In fact, a small amount of diesel fuel is required to run the engine.
"Use of additives (in ethanol) makes running (an engine) dangerous, subject to explosions," according to Fiat Powertrain Technologies product development engineer Joao Irineu Medeiros. "The diesel will be just enough for ignition and the ethanol will complete the combustion," he adds. It sounds like the new Fiat design will be a compression ignition engine running on e-diesel. Instead of being mixed at the pump, though, Fiat is planning to keep the fuels separate until injected into the engine. Proper tuning would be essential, which would explain why Fiat needs until 2010 to bring this engine to market.
Small cars aren't necessarily unsafe, as good engineering and quality materials can go a long way towards making up for the size disadvantage that they face in many accidents. Sometimes, though, corners can be cut in order to save a few bucks, and the U.K. agency Thatcham suggests that the seats in small city cars could use some help.
"City cars are not equipped to protect their occupants' necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles which combined with poor seat design makes whiplash far more likely. Good seat design is not something that should be inherently linked to higher value cars and this latest set of results will hopefully act as a catalyst for vehicle manufacturers to look at improving seat and head restraints design within this important and growing sector," says Matthew Avery, a research manager at Thatcham.
Because city cars spend much of their time in traffic, which is where whiplash is most likely, these latest tests indicate that much more work is required from manufacturers. Not a single mini-car tested performed well enough to earn a "good" whiplash protection rating, while the smart fortwo and Renault Twingo were the only mini's rated as "acceptable."
Automotive research and analysis firm JATO does an annual assessment of vehicle carbon dioxide emissions in the European Market. For several years, Fiat and Peugeot/Citroen have been going back and forth as the leader. For 2007, JATO's analysis based on sales put Fiat at the top of the heap among the ten biggest manufacturers that do business in Europe. Fiat's 2007 fleet averaged CO2 emissions of only 137.3g/km while second place was a draw between Peugeot and Toyota at 141.9g/km. Peugeot and Fiat both sell far more small cars than anything else, many of them powered by diesel engines. Fiat in particular also promotes natural gas-fueled vehicles, having sold 50,000 of them in Italy in 2007. Toyota of course has their hybrids, but they also sell a lot of diesel-powered vehicles in the European market. The big three German manufacturers trailed the pack with their higher powered cars. Volkswagen (particularly through Audi), BMW and Mercedes only achieved 161.7 g/km, 176.7g/km and 188.4 g/km respectively.
[Source: Paddocktalk, thanks to Cedric for the tip]
It seems that the retro-cool style of the Fiat 500, aside from getting a lot of praise, is also winning a lot of prizes. Besides the Car of the Year 2008 – the little Italian thatʻs made in Poland has just been crowned Best Small Car in the annual What Diesel Car Of The Year awards.
The 500 Diesel is powered by Fiat's 1.3 Multijet engine good for 75 HP, 56 mpg (U.S.) in the EU combined cycle and CO2 emissions of 111 g/km. Overall, current diesel sales in the UK are approaching those on the Continent, with more than 50 percent of vehicles sold being diesels.
Italian automaker Fiat is already huge in the diesel segment with almost 80 percent of the cars sold in the boot peninsula already running without spark plugs. Now, Fiat is working on their own home-grown hybrid system that could be on sale by 2011. With the goal of having the lowest CO2 emissions of any European car-maker, Fiat is developing their hybrid powertrain to work with both gasoline and diesel engines. Fiat is working on systems for both small cars and vans with the former being paired with the new 900cc two cylinder and dual clutch transmission that is coming for the 500. That system could yield CO2 emissions under 90g/km which would challenge the Smart ForTwo CDI. For vans, Fiat has a system that will be used with a 2.3L diesel and automated manual gearbox.
Fiat is surely trying to revitalize its Lancia brand. Once the jewel of the crown thanks to models like the Delta Integrale (I even had a poster of it when I was a child), Lancia had the cutest supermini around in the '80s. This car was the Y10, later called Ypsilon (all Lancias use Greek letters for naming). It was a package that combined luxury and small size.
According to a supposed leak from Lancia's UK offices, the car which will face the Mini and the 500 will be based on the Grande Punto platform but will include Alfa Romeo's FuriosaMi.To set of powerplants: the 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine and the new Multijet Diesel engines. This just might herald the comeback of Lancia to the UK market by 2010, after fourteen years of absence.
Last week, the French postal service La Poste announced it's intent to buy a lot of electric vehicles for mail carriers to use. Newteon, the company that works with Micro-Vett and Fiat on vehicles like the all-electric Fiat Doblo and Fiorino, now says its vehicles have made La Poste's short list of potential additions to the fleet. A prototype Doblo EV will be delivered to La Poste this summer and then four or five more will be tested in the fall. Micro-Vett converts the Fiats and Newteon distributes the vehicles exclusively in France and other EU countries. Since La Poste is interested in at least 500 EVs, and potentially 10,000 in five years, getting on the short list could propel Mirco-Vett and Newteon into the big(ger) leagues. Thanks to Fabien for the tip.
Fiat has just announced pricing in the UK for the Fiat Bravo fitting the new 1.6 Multijet diesel engines. Feel like spending the least amount of money for a Bravo? You can get a Active 1.6 Multijet starting at £13,595. There are two versions of the 1.6 Multijet engine available, one good for 118 HP. Then there are two 104 HP versions. Consumption and CO2 figures are impressive for a car that's a tad bigger than a VW Golf: 47, 47 and 52 MPG, and and 129, 129 and 119 g/km of CO2, respectively.
Wait. Hadn't Alfa Romeo chosenFuriosa as the name for it's new Junior? Nope. It seems that they changed their mind. Alfa Romeo has launched a new microsite to promote its smallest model which is now named Mi.To. Besides mito being the Italian word for myth, the site says that they chose the name because Alfa Romeo is a brand which has a lot to do with the cities of Milano, where Alfa Romeo was born, and Torino, Fiat's city. Molto intelligente, isn't it?
The Mi.To is based on the Fiat Grande Punto (yes, the same used for the Opel Corsa), and will include some of the same powertrains as can be found there, including the new 1.6 Multijet diesel engines with jaw-dropping mileage figures. It will be put on sale during the second half of this year. Alfa expects to shave off some potential Mini buyers by saying me, too.
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Fiat is surely trying to revitalize its Lancia brand. Once the jewel of the crown thanks to models like the 
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