A Pointer is an older version of a VW Gol and both are newer versions of a 5 door Fox.
The new Fox, made in Brazil, is a completly new design and is the same size as an A1 or a 90s Polo.
The new Polo is so big Europeans call it the 'Polf'. Its as big of bigger than an A2.
You want a Fiat Palio FIRE. US$7500, a 1.3 16V engine and very cheap spare parts. 30-35mpg. Fiat would enver get into the US market again, me thinks, although the Palio has done good enough down here that people is starting to forget the bad years. And FIAT is partly GM owned to boot...
You can get them with power windows and AC and the price goes up maybe US$1200.
Does it share anything at all w/the older Fox? It has a longitudinal engine, doesn't it? Wondering if some of the platform is shared...?
That might actually work to get Fiat back in the US.
For example, we now see commercials advertising all the GM brands and Saab of course is now included. If Americans saw "Fiat" lumped in with Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, etc. I think eyebrows would raise in a positive direction here.
The new Fox and the older Fox have nothing in common. The Pointer and GOL are the direct descendants. Everithing is updated, but the base stays, longitudinal engine an all..
That's not so easy I am afraid. The GM owns maybe some 20% of Fiat, and more than once declared, that they want to get rid of them as quick as possible. The problem is a catastrophic financial situation of fiat, and the GM itself has some financial problems too.
The reliability of Fiat is not that good either. Ok, such a car as Palio is absolutely naked, there is not much to break. But any modern Fiat, such as new Panda, Punto or Stilo is literally stuffed with electronic, which is of much worse quality as for egxample in VW. So, if you say that VW is unreliable, I don't dare to think what you would say about Fiat.
Like I said, the Palio with the FIRE 16v engine is selling in SouthAmerica for some time now and reliability has been much better that what you would normally expect from Fiat...
I had a friend that owned a Fiat sedan, the name of which has been lost to time, back in the early 80's. Even though it was only a couple of years old at the time, it was a total piece of junk. Everything broke on that car.
Fixing a damaged reputation is steaper hill to climb than maintaining a good reputation. Of course, many companies no longer seem to give a rats behind about quality/reputation, as long as top management gets their bonuses.
David Glos
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