Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Fiat’s two-seat, 2 cylinder Topolino may not come to the UK. The budget city-car was intended for developing markets as well as richer Western European countries, but Andrew Humberstone, managing director of Fiat Group UK, admitted there are doubts as to whether the Topolino would succeed in the UK. “The Topolino makes sense globally but is more difficult to position over here. We already have a very good presence in the A-Sector and we have to consider how the market will be affected when the Chinese makers eventually enter the UK. They could start offering much cheaper models, some with Fiat technology, too.”
Fiat has a long history in the Chinese market — most recently the Italian company agreed to a joint venture with leading Chinese manufacturer Guangzhou Auto Group. Construction has already started on the GAC-Fiat factory, which will be able to produce 140,000 cars and 220,000 engines per year.
Fiat is expected to make its new Topolino city car, a 3 metre, two-seater based on the Panda, on Zastava production lines. The car will be positioned below the Panda and the 500 on price and is expected to use Fiat's new 900cc 'MultiAir' engine in 65bhp, normally aspirated form.