BMW, Fiat Join Forces, Create Next-Gen Mini Platform

BMW and Fiat have signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop the next-generation platform underpinning three different small cars — the Mini, the Alfa Romeo Mi.To, and the Fiat Grande Punto (which is desperately in need of help based on our experience). To borrow a phrase, the auto industry works in mysterious ways. More »

Fiat Grande Punto Abarth "essesse" (Super Sport) Coming To 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show

Fiat's given the Grande Punto Abarth a bit of a conceptual upgrade for the Frankfurt Auto Show with the Grande Punto Abarth Super Sport prototype concept car. They're calling it the "essesse," but with upgrades including a booster kit that almost doubles its power output from the standard Grande Punto Abarth — up to 180 horses — we're calling it pretty frickin' neat. We'll see it in person in Frankfurt next month, but for now you'll have to be content with the two shot gallery below and the full poorly translated press release below the jump. More »

Novitec Fiat Grande Punto X-One

The Novitec crew apparently took a break from messing with Ferraris to toy with another Fiat Group burner. Make that oil burner. It's the Novitec Fiat Grande Punto X-One, a warmed-over version of Fiat's popular European hatch. Not quite a hot hatch from the factory, the diesel Punto's gotten a makeover including body kit and engine-electronics tune that wrings 160 hp out of the 1.9 liter JTD MultiJet. Of course, earlier this year Fiat introduced a turbocharged version of that engine producing up to 188 horsepower. But until they start offering it as a crate motor, this is about the top of what's available. Still, we'd imagine this bugger has torque for days and dainty gas-sipping tendencies. We give it two oilcans up. [World Car Fans]

Geneva Showcase: Abarth Fiats Make us Giddy

Maybe it's all the stripes and fat tires against the Fiat Grande Punto's hot hatchness, but both the Abarth Rally2000 racer and Punto Grande win our Wish We Had It Here prize for 2007. And by here, we mean the US, where the new Abarth tuners will join other Fiats in being entirely absent. Word is, this lack will continue for the forseeable future. – Mike Spinelli More »

The Scorpion Returns: Fiat's Abarth-Tuned Puntos Coming to Geneva

The return of Abarth is near. If you'll recall, the motorsports firm of Carlo Abarth spent the 1950s and 1960s building race-winning cars sports cars that showed up many a big name. It also built tuning kits for Fiats, and was eventually taken into the bosom of the Agnelli dynasty. Now, Fiat's reviving the name for a new factory tuner and a rally team. The Grande Punto Abarth will appear at the Geneva show with its rally cousin, the Abarth S2000. Both bear the Scorpion logo, but it's the rally car that's the true scion of Carlo. The four-wheel-drive S2000, built for the International Rally Championship, produces 270 hp, while the Punto Abarth creates 150 hp from a 1.4-liter turbo, though an add-on tuning kit will boost power to 180 hp. It'll also get a six-speed, Brembo stoppers, an aero kit and wider meats. Yes, please. – Mike Spinelli More »

Bertone's Latest Fiat Concept for Geneva

Just as Bertone and company said it would a few weeks back, the Italian design and tech house is bringing a roadster concept to the Geneva show in a padded lunchbox. The two seater is one of a few prototypes created around Fiat's Punto Grande platform reportedly planned to debut at the design-heavy Geneva forum. This coupelike mini sportster has a retractable hard top and is powered by Fiat's 1.4-liter 16-valve FIRE engine (built by robots) producing 100 hp. – Mike Spinelli More »

Hotten Up the Hatches: Fiat's Abarth-tuned Punto on the Way

Quick history: Before Fiat bought Abarth in 1971 as an in-house tuning shop, the motorsports firm that bore the name of Viennese car tweaker Karl "Carlo" Abarth, began transforming modest Fiat 600s into racing legends as far back as the 1950s. Now, as we gleaned from Fiat Group's product plan leaked late last year, the company's planning to revive its Abarth tuners, starting with the Grande Punto and extending to the new 500 subcompact. Now, AutoExpress reports the Abarth Punto will be a full-on hot hatch, inspired by the company's rally program, with a twin-turbo mill producing around 200 hp. Expect a Geneva debut. – Mike Spinelli More »

Spy Photos: Fiat Punto Turbo

Fiat's apparently working up a hotter version of its Giugiaro-designed Punto. According to Carscoop, this slick-black hatchback is a prototype of the 2007 Grande Punto, sporting Fiat's spanky new 1.4 turbo four, a corporate powerplant of the Fiat Group that'll find its way into the Alfa Romeo 147. No word on performance specs yet, but we'd imagine driving dynamics in the range of "perky," though if rumors pan out, this little Fiat may just have quite a lot of "pep." – Mike Spinelli More »

Spy Photos: Fiat Punto Sedan

There's no doubt Fiat's prospects were strengthened by the arrival of its new, prettied-up Punto subcompact. Less than a year after after the suffering Italians' launch of the Giugiaro-designed Punto and Grande Punto, the automaker's profit jumped 56% between the first and second quarters of 2006, mainly owing to the hatch's sales success and tidy margins. Now, the company's preparing a sedan version of its base Punto. A Punto with a trunk? Sure, Europe's not ready for that kind of craziness, but a small, three-box model could give the company a boost in growing auto markets from Brazil to India to Camden, New Jersey (yeah, you're right, Camden's not quite ready) that aren't turned off by non-hatchbacks. A Fiat that makes money? What's the world coming to? More »

Fiat Unveils Punto Grande Compact, Hopes for a Win

First, Fiat Group's fortunes were turned around by the liquidity brought by GM's $1.5 billion contract buyout. Now it's hoping for a big seller to pull the Fiat brand back from the brink. The Giugiaro-designed Punto Grande, which will go on sale in Italy this fall and in the UK early in 2006, is a "supermini," a jumbo-shrimp grade incongruity that's practically unknown in the US market — but could be a serious value player for Europeans who are both cost- and style-conscious. In fact it's a larger version of the Punto II mini, from which it gets its first name. But if it's a relative by birth, it gets its looks from the other side of the family. More »