Fiat has revealed first details of the updated Punto, which will replace one of its selling models of all time after more than five million were sold since sales began in 1999.
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The new model has restyled nose and bumpers, which include new, more powerful headlights and advanced polyelliptical foglights.
Big changes have been made under the skin, with a range of advanced new engines and gearboxes.
The new Punto is the first car in this class to use Multijet diesels, the latest incarnation of the Fiat designed and developed common rail, direct injection system. Multijet is the successor to this technology and boosts performance and fuel economy by up to 30%. There two new Multijet diesel engines in the new Punto: the 1.3 litre with 51 kW and a 1.9 litre engine that produces 71 kW. These efficient engines average 3.9 and 4.1 litres per 100 km.
Leading the petrol engine line is the new 1.4 litre 70 kW Fire unit, which provides 9.6 second 0-100 km/h acceleration and an average of 5.3 litres per 100 km, excellent fuel economy.
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By GlobalDataBut perhaps the most newsworthy addition to the engine range is the launch in Europe of a production car that offers the ability to run on bio-renewable methane, as well as petrol in the Punto Natural Power.
Fitted with a 1.2 litre 38 kW engine specially adapted to run on both fuels, the Punto is all but carbon dioxide-neutral when running on methane. By using both fuels, the new Punto can run on methane when available yet does not leave its driver stranded in places only petrol is on sale.
There is a choice of three manual gearboxes: standard and Getrag five speed units, as well as a six speed box. Joining Speedgear, which has been enhanced with a new torque converter for smother and quicker operation, is DualDrive, a sequential manual gearbox which, like Selespeed in Alfa Romeo, uses a manual gearbox, but with the car taking over the clutch and gear changing operations. This is claimed to give the DualDrive equipped Puntos the performance and economy of the manual cars and the ease of use of an automatic.
Completing the drivetrain is Hill Holder, long a Subaru exclusive but recently also adopted by Toyota’s Landcruiser, which over comes the problem of a car rolling backwards when the driver moves off on a hill. Using advanced technology, the car detects when it is on a hill and about to move off and holds the car with brakes for 1.5 seconds as the driver moves his foot from pedal to pedal, thus stopping the car rolling backwards.
The latest Punto will also be offered with ESP, eighth generation Bosch ABS with Electronic Brake Force Distribution and Emergency Brake Assistance.
New, but hardly innovative, comfort and convenience features include cruise control, parking sensors, automatic wipers and a new air conditioner with separate driver and passenger temperature controls.
For the new Punto, Fiat’s CONNECT telematics system now replaces cumbersome and costly CD or DVD based map systems by downloading maps as they required, presumably for a subscription cost.
Other changes include revised rear suspension for claimed better ride comfort and more control in extreme conditions, revised dashboard and new paint colours and interior trims.
