Fiat on Wednesday unveiled its new Bravo saloon car, a week after announcing a bumper 2006 during which car sales were in the black for the first time in six years.
“In 2007 we are turning the page, and Bravo is the car that embodies this change,” CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters at the launch.
The new car, which went on sale in Italy this week and will hit the French, Spanish and German markets over the next few months, hopes to compete with other medium-sized saloon cars such as the Renault Megane, Peugeot 307, Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus.
About three million units in the category are sold in the Western European market each year.
Two diesel versions of the new Bravo are available, as well as two with turbocharged petrol engines. Depending on the extras, the price ranges from â,¬14Â 900 to â,¬22Â 800 (about R139Â 000 to R213Â 000).
Fiat hopes to produce 2,8-million cars in 2010, compared with two million last year, said Marchionne, who is credited with revitalising Italy’s flagship auto brand.
A Fiat statement boasted that it took only 18 months from “setting the product specifications to the commercial launch of the new model … a record in the automotive world”.
It said computer techniques helped cut development time by 30%, making the Bravo the first car entirely created “using virtual methods”.
Fiat Auto, which also owns Lancia and Alfa Romeo, announced profits of â,¬291-million last year on the back of a 21% increase in turnover, to â,¬23,7-billion.
With brisk sales of the Grande Punto, as well as new versions of the Panda, Fiat Auto’s share of the Western European auto market climbed from 1,1% to 7,6% last year. It was the group’s best position in four years and the steepest growth of any European auto maker.
Marchionne also said other new models to be introduced in 2007 include the new Fiat 500, and that 46 new vehicles or new versions of existing models will come on line by 2010. — AFP