Fiat Automobiles CEO Luca De Meo introduced the Italian brand at the Geneva Motor Show with a well-attended press conference yesterday, speaking to a backdrop comprising entirely of the new C-segment Bravo model which is making its public debut here this week.

In fact the only other car to appear was an original Fiat 500, the same light-blue example that was show in Bologna last December, and an ample demonstration of this iconic little car's appeal with the launch of the brand new model now less than four months away. Along with the 500 is an information dome dedicated to the project.

Fiat have also used the Swiss motor extravaganza to launch their new logo, with the new stamp much in evidence. However the Bravo is the big star, and De Meo praised the new car during his speech which focused around its attributes. No less than ten of the new hatchback models were on show yesterday, presented in three specifications levels: Dynamic, Emotion and Sport. The engine options were all present under the bonnets of the show cars, the 120 and 150 bhp 1.9 Multijet 16, joined by the brand new 1.4 T-Jet engine, which is also on show mounted on its own static display plinth. The colours Maranello Red, Maserati Blue, Nocturnal Blue, Warm Grey, Provocative Black and Trusty Light Blue, were shown on the cars, while the leather interior option was also in evidence.

Most of Fiat's senior management team are much in evidence at the Geneva this week, including Group Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, Powertrain Technologies CEO Alfredo Altavilla, Product Portfolio boss Giuseppe Bonnollo and Group CEO Segio Marchionne, as well as all the individual brand CEOs.
 

It was Marchionne who made the most interesting comments, informing reporters that the new Eurobond issue had been pushed back several weeks, and that the Turin-based carmaker is actively considering building a new low-cost car.

Marchionne has never hidden the fact that he sees Renault's low-cost Dacia brand, which builds the Logan sedan in Romania, Iran, Morocco and Russia, and will shortly begin assembly in India and Turkey, as having an excellent business model. Fiat's own "Project World Car" - the Palio hatchback and its family of derivatives comprising a sedan, estate and pickup - are more than a decade old now and the Palio has just received in final facelift in Brazil. That market is expected to introduce the Grande Punto as its replacement, pushing the concept upmarket, although the Brazilian-built version will be based on a local platform and use locally-built engines. Now Marchionne is mulling a direct replacement, telling reports in Geneva that "our low-cost vehicle will be the new version of the Palio."

by Edd Ellison in Geneva