In a magazine interview last week Fiat's Chief Technology Officer Harald J. Wester outlined details of two exciting Fiat models which are making their way through the development pipeline.

In a magazine interview last week Fiat's Chief Technology Officer Harald J. Wester outlined details of two exciting Fiat models which are making their way through the development pipeline, the new low-cost B-compact 'Uno' model and the sub-Panda microcar, both of which are due within the next two-and-a-half years.

The new low cost B-compact car, which will replace the Palio family range in world markets, will bridge the gap that has grown up between the A-segment Panda and the B-segment Grande Punto, a divide that has stretched with the upward push achieved by the latter model when it was introduced two-and-a-half years ago. The B-compact model, dubbed as the 'new Uno' will spawn a 'Weekend' (estate) version.

"We're developing a basic concept in a dimension slightly above the current Panda," Wester told German magazine Auto Motor und Sport last week, saying that the new car would be targeted at markets such as South America, Russia, India and China, all areas where the Palio is currently sold. Where its sales were above 100,000 units a year, Fiat would look to assemble the model locally.

Wester also held out that the B-compact model could be launched under a new brand name. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has hinted in the past that the defunct Innocenti nameplate could be revived, and he has never hidden his positive view of Renault's successful re-launching of the Dacia low-cost brand. "Internally," Wester told Auto Motor und Sport, "we are asking the question whether with such a model we would thwart the positive image of Fiat we have build up over the years."

Following the amazing success of the Fiat 500, plans are also accelerating to introduce to the market a new microcar, which Wester told the magazine could arrive as soon as the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010. It will be positioned below the A-segment 500 and Panda, the latter which is also due to be replaced at the same time.

Wester also revealed that 500 production is to be pushed very close to 200,000 units this year as Fiat aimed to reduce the Car of the Year award winner's four month order time. He also said that recently revealed plans to introduce the 500 to the North American markets would result in it being built either in that region of at one of Fiat's South American plants.