Fiat is taking another stab at the automotive gold mine that is China. The Italian company will debut a new compact sedan at the Beijing Auto Show next month and will start making the car in China by July.
Called Viaggio, which means journey in Italian, the sedan is a rebadged C-segment Dodge Dart, which in turn is based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. At At 4,670 mm long and 1,830 mm wide, the Viaggio is about the same size as a Ford Focus Sedan.
The Viaggio will also be the first model from Fiat’s 50:50 joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group. The Viaggio will be made at the partners’ new factory in the city of Changsha in Hunan. Fiat hopes the sedan will help boost sales in China to 300,000 units by 2014 from less than 1,500 units last year. Currently, Fiat only sells CBU imports.
The Viaggio will be powered by locally-built normally aspirated and turbocharged versions of Fiat’s 1.4L engine. There are also plans for a hatchback version, which could be exported back to Europe as a Bravo replacement, sources told Automotive News Europe.
Unlike some European rivals, Fiat hasn’t had much success in China. It had a loss-making JV with Nanjing Automotive that failed in 2007. Fiat then attempted to tie up with Chery, but it didn’t work out as well. Third time lucky perhaps?
Click here for more on the Dodge Dart, including a full gallery.
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wow i didn’t know the Dart’s butt is so sexy, like Kia Optima or Hyunda Azera. can mode the proton preve to look like this?
Hey,, that’s the P321 concept rear view.
Thats make me wondering why P321A cant have that kind of design… I know to achive 100% Tuah’s design might be difficult due to cost or wutsoever…but at least should have same kind of resemblence like this Viaggio’s rear lamp or the Estima one… but we got different one in P321A.. honestly, I like P321A design except the rear design. :(
i might be wrong but seem like current trend car manufacturer (not all but some) give nice rear design for hatchback and so-so design for sedan…fiesta, focus, pug 207, maruti (swift), aveo, latio, sx4, aveo for me fall in this comparison…maybe the rumored P3-22A (preve hatchback) might be true afterall?
normally, if car designers design the sedan first, it is easier for them to make a nice looking hatchback than designing the hatch first then scratching head how to add a nice tail.
Yeah u r right…
Wondering why P321A rear light cant follow even a small resemblence of Tuah’s rear lamp design…at least should be some thing like this Viaggio’s one or the Estima’s …
Honestly P321A design is OK, except Rear design :(
i think they copy the rear from dodge charger not proton p321A
and the charger got the design from the challenger. so that rear light design is actually a dodge family signature.
Hey,, That’s the P321 concept rear view lah..
the protong supporter is coming!!!watch out..they will claim all other car today is copy from protong..pathetic
PAUL! good that you are updating you website with new features, but somehow it is not showing right lah… when i open your site… the colour alternates between grey and white… non-stop… 5 second intervals…
why is it doing that?
What browser and OS are you using?
Hi Paul, I have the same problem with gangully for the past few days but now it is ok already. BTW I am using windows explorer and windows 7 OS.
wow
wow
wow
Again, went it come to weelknown company doing rebadge, people will say “WOW~! nice~! good job.. this is the way it should be! its ok to rebadge, save money!”
again when our carmaker do it, everything seems so wrong.. so not fair.. and again, i not backing up our carmaker, but seems not fair..
The behind oh so tempting…
Nice, hope this car is also available in Malaysia too
Bring it here..plizzz!!!
Can’t. Torino Motors closed down already. Unless someone else takes up the Fiat brand again in Malaysia.
and again, when it come to other brand rebadging, people will say ” YAY~!! bring it here, ilove it~! this is i hoping was! good, cheaper car! bla bla bla”.. when the time proton rebadging mitsu, people will say lousy proton, copycat, no desogner, no talent and everything.. dafuq is that??
proton not pay me to say this but what i saw is typical malaysia mentality.. when it come to country-own / country related company, everything is wrong..
not going to dispute you but fiat and dodge are in the same group. so, if they rebadge, it is from within their own company. very much like vw which gets seat and skoda to rebadge the vw up into respective brands. they can do this cheaply because seat and skoda are in the vw group. just like toyota and daihatsu. but mitsubishi and proton have no ownership ties.
we should build really sporty compact sedans like this with 1.4l turbo like this..