Fiat Grande Punto SW

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Fiat Grande Punto SW

Looks quite nice to me. DEFINITELY looks better than the 206SW. It might be my imagination but doesn't it have a look of the Croma? If it does go into production I have some doubts as to whether it would ever come to the U.K. as although Europe does have a record of making cars that cross over into the next class up, e.g. Nova/Corsa 2 & 4 door saloons, when they do come here they don't tend to sell well. The Italians and French have always offered small cars for all the family, Uno and R5 are good examples of this, whereas the Brits and Germans have tended to keep models whithin specific ranges. For example the Fiesta, Corsa, (new Corsa excepted), Metro and Polo have always been aimed at the single person/second car market whereas in France and Italy the Uno/Punto and R5/Clio are big enough to be used as the main family car. On that basis, I can see it going on sale in mainland Europe but not here; if they build it at all.
 
erm, how the hell can an estate have a hatchback rear end? the whole point of an estate is that it should be easy to load, if they did make a GP SW it would have a different back end, the back bumper would no doubt be smaller and lower, and the hatch would be bigger and probably flatter as well. someone has just made some pics based on an idea they had without really thinking about it. it doesnt mean a GP SW will happen, and it definately wouldnt look like that if they did make one.
 
what about the 156 Sportwagon, thats got a very sloped back end and the boot is actually no bigger than a saloon apart from height, but thats not the point coz its Italian lol!
 
the sportwagon is famous for been the least practicle estate ever made.
even parkers say it is "Not as practical as 'traditional' estates", and "This is a 'lifestyle estate', so it means that it's trendy, respectable to have on the drive, but lacks the interior space of a traditional load-lugger."

it is more of a hatchback than an estate. if the GP SW made the same mistake it would suffer the same problem as the sportwagon, who would want to buy one unless they preferred the styling? each model needs to be aimed at a market segment, who would prefer an unpracticle GP SW when a 5 door hatch GP is just as good and looks better?

the saloon 156 also has the least usable boot i've ever come across on a saloon, even getting smallish items in the boot is a real struggle. the boot is an ok size but the opening is too narrow. that gave the sportwagon an advantage because a hatchback was not available, if you wanted a 156 and needed a usable boot then you have to get teh sportwagon. a GP hatch is available so a GP SW would not have the same advantage, it would need to be a true estate to differentiate from the GP hatchback.
 
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