I don't know which way round it is, but Ford can't have changed a great deal as modern manufacturing practices wouldn't allow it so they must have only mucked around with suspension settings, spring rates and bushings. I'm a big FIAT fan and a confirmed Italophile, yet I look at the current range and despair.
I watched a programme on TV the other night called Inspector Montalbano which is set in Sicily (Italian with English subtitles) and he drives a fairly late model Tipo.....and it still looks good, it's just a pity that the trim on the basic versions were so drab. It was replaced by the Bravo and Brava and then the Stilo as we all know. But I watched the programme and thought what a good looking car the Tipo was in later versions. And I thought that the Bravo/a was such a distinctive car that you could identify them from behind in the dark just by their lights. I might be wrong but didn't they have independent suspension?
So, distinctive styling and advanced suspension then. The Punto received really good reviews when it first came out but the rest caught up and so far FIAT haven't responded. The GP when it first came out was, in my view, the best looking supermini by far and none have surpassed it, although the Italians have done their best to cock up the refresh.
In the next 2 years I'm going to replace the Panda but, apart from another Panda I'm a bit stuck. The 500 doesn't have enough interior space, the Punto must be ending about now, in fact I don't even think it features in some magazine's price lists and it looks like there won't be a direct replacement, so it seems to be a toss up between a Panda and a 500L
I worry about where the excitement has gone. Where are the Strada 130TC, 124 Coupe and Spider; the Barchetta and Coupe 20V? Where is the elegance of the Dino and 130 Coupes? Is the best we can hope for a metal box with Wi-Fi?
Maybe I'm just a dinosaur stuck in the days of crackling exhausts where the cars reflected the land they came from. Not just the reputation of poor manufacture, but the arm waving and the pasta and the Chianti. Gina Lollabridgida, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Franco Nero and Rosanno Brazzi; Michele Alboreto, Alberto Ascari, Andrea de Cesaris, Vincenzo Lancia and Enzo Ferrari.
Comparing the number of model ranges being marketed by Audi and even Citroen with FIAT, I think, points to the Italians being in trouble. Although I have seen some 500Ls, they are vastly outnumbered by small and medium sized Citroens. Maybe the upcoming 500X will provide a little interest.
The 500 is quite tendy and the Panda is holding the sensible ground quite well, but to hang an entire company's future on three model ranges is suicidal, especially when those three model ranges are no better than slightly above average. The phrases "Could do better, and Must try harder" spring to mind.
They should have done a similar deal with Ford as they did with GM, but instead of a small number of petrol engines, they could have had Ford's chassis engineers. That was a missed opportunity.