This is NOT a Fiat...

[raton_laveur]

Accordind to Le Quotidien Auto on 04.05.05, "This is NOT a Fiat" will be Fiat's launch slogan for the new Croma 2, a car in the Mondeo class. I looks like an estate, but Fiat says it isn't one. Rather it's a cross between an MPV and a saloon car (saloon car sounds hilarious to my American ears, a saloon beiing a bar in the wild west way back when).

"It's a car that excells by its stature, interior space, percieved quality, and quietness. As far as the price is concerned, it really IS a Fiat."

The car described in the article had the 150 hp version of the 1.9 MJTD and a six speed automatic. It is based on the Opel Vectra platform as is the Saab 9-3 and the Chevrolet Malibu. The petrol engines will be existing Opel units while the Diesels come from Fiat. The Croma 2 is 12 cm taller than a Vectra estate for more interior space.

Sorry, I can't tell you when it will arrive in the UK.

 

[The Negotiator]

If it's not a fiat what is it?! lol

 

[raton_laveur]

If it's not a fiat what is it?! lol

A Hippopotamus?

 

[Steven]

I hate that. Fiat are positioning themselves downmarket with ad slogans like that...

 

[christopher watson]

It reminds me of the slogan for the nissan almera 'the car they dont want you to drive', so nobody did

 

[RobW]

Silly arses

They have no clue at Slough

Advertising Pandas with Grannies, X box ediitons and cheesy Schumacher Stilos...

And no diesel Panda 4x4

Jeeze

Just make decent small cars with 3 doors again - remember like the Cinq and 500 before it - simple, they will sell themselves!

 

[AppleSei]

Worked for skoda that phrase!!

well they said 'its a skoda....honest'

I say bravo to fiat for taking the **** out of themselves!!

 

[dave]

shocking. so add says fiats are **** but this one isnt

 

[Steven]

Dave, that sums it up well... I don't know why we bother.

 

[Stu DemonD]

I may buy a Renault :chin:

*goes outside to beat himself up, to knock some sense back into him*

 

[Nuova500]

Fiat are being truthful... its NOT a Fiat, its a GM Vauxhall Signum with a Fiat grill and should never have been born in the first place.

 

[Steven]

Could this be the car that sends Fiat under?

 

[Nuova500]

I doubt it, my guess is that it wont sell and they will pull the plug in 2 or 3 years. The next Punto is crucial to Fiat, get it right and bingo but if they get that wrong, well who knows. I honestly think that Fiat auto are more inclined towards Alfa as the range keeps getting better, how can a manufacturer that does the 159 then do the new Croma???

 

[Dr_Pepper]

Unless they've changed it since the pictures posted on here, I think it's a horrible car. But I hope they can shift some, at least it's in a different market to the other models unlike some (mentioning no names IDEA).

Now I guess we'll see whether people trust Fiat to build a reliable car. They need to push it though, I'd have thought experience with the Tempra and Marea would have taught them that they desperately need to improve the awareness of it through advertising to sell them outside Italy.

The thing is Mondeo's sell themselves, everyone knows they are threre and that they are reliable. People aren't aware that Fiat sell estates.

 

[raton_laveur]

I may buy a Renault :chin:

*goes outside to beat himself up, to knock some sense back into him*

As long as it's not a Modus...

 

[raton_laveur]

shocking. so add says fiats are **** but this one isnt

That's right up there with "It's not your father's Oldsmobile", a slogan that turned off a lot of potential buyers which started the decline of this once proud (and now closed) make. The implication was your father had to have been pretty stupid to have bought a car like that. Funny thing was that Olds was GMs performance leader in the late 1940s until the middle 1950s when Pontiac took over that role after Chevrolet held it briefly.

 

[smurfhead]

Well if it is just like a Signum to drive, it will be very sucessful. I driven one a few junctions down the M1 once and it felt beautiful to drive.

Fiat are being truthful... its NOT a Fiat, its a GM Vauxhall Signum with a Fiat grill and should never have been born in the first place.

 

[sei03]

So if its "not a fiat" will it be welcome on the forum lol

Al

 

[Trancendental]

I say Fiat start making perfermance hatchbacks and get themselves a rep like VW golf.. and then start on sports coupes and sexy nice quick wild wild went bars (saloons)

I know there are quick fiats, like the Coupe 2.0 16v, the Bravo 2.0 24v HGT etc but no one knows about them because the advertising stragergy is poor, I mean i rememeber VW adverts cause they are good, that singin in the rain advert I used to stand in my cinema screen to watch it on the trailers and run from screen to screen one after the other to see it. Quality.

I can't remeber a single fiat advert and the good ones don't get aired in this country

maybe they'ed have more interest from a wider market if they fixed up.

 

[mad_colm]

losing all their quirkyness and character, and simply becoming another arm of GM hasn't done Saab any harm