Fiat’s all-new crossover is based on the MLA platform and will be powered by a 1.3-litre and a 1.0-litre petrol engine
Fiat discontinued the Punto nameplate in the international markets a long time ago but it was not replaced in the European continent. The Argo took its place in Latin American markets back in 2017 and it was followed by the Cronos compact sedan and targeting the developing markets, Fiat has unveiled a brand new crossover and here is where things get interesting.
Internally codenamed Project 363, the five-seater has been officially unveiled in the Brazilian market as Fiat calls it as SuvFiat. Why such a lowkey name? Well, it has not been christened yet and FCA seeks the public to give a suitable name to the crossover and it can be chosen at the brand’s official website for Brazil.
The three given options are Tuo, Domo and Pulse. The one getting the most votes will be used on the compact crossover and is a clever marketing technique in our opinion giving the power to the public. It has been scheduled to go on sale later this year in Brazil before reaching other markets in South America, where the crossover body style is becoming increasingly popular.
There are some interesting bits and pieces about the Fiat Project 363 you should know about. One is that it is not underpinned by the MP1 platform, which can also be found in the Argo and Cronos and instead Fiat says, the yet-to-be-named crossover uses a new MLA architecture. While the correlation between these two platforms is unknown, but Fiat has said it will enable better performance characteristics and comfort.
As for the performance, the Fiat crossover is equipped with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine based on the 1.0L Firefly mill. It develops a maximum power output of 125 horsepower and 200 Nm of peak torque and is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. The low-spec variants will use a 1.3-litre naturally-aspirated engine.
It produces 109 horsepower and 139 Nm and is connected to a CVT auto. The design is heavily influenced by the Argo and Cronos siblings and it gets a black roof, dual-tone alloy wheels, LED headlamps, chrome bar below the muscular bonnet, aggressive cladding, skid plate and so on.