Indian Autos blog

The new Fiat Palio has a new fascia and different dashboard

Italian auto manufacturer Fiat has finally decided to bring in the facelifted Fiat Palio to India by April 2010. Launched in Latin America back in January 2009, the new Fiat Palio looks better and has a well designed dashboard.

The Fiat Palio’s sales figures read a sorry tale and merely a facelift or crisper dashboard will not lift hopes. Fiat’s understood the shortage of power under the hood and, according to reports, will transfer the Punto’s 1.2-liter 68bhp petrol engine to the Palio.

Fiat will continue to use the 1.3-liter Multijet engine on the Palio which already is tuned to meet BS 4 norms.

Fiat’s senior staff member -

Although the Palio has become an old model now, it continues to serve our strategic purpose of being the entry level model in our range, while complementing the Punto. It was, hence, essential to infuse some refreshments to the model to keep it under production.

The new Fiat Palio and the Fiat Uno will coexist with the existing Fiats, reports Noticiasautomotivas. Remember that the Uno was launched back in 1984 and when the new Palio comes in the next few years, the Uno would have completed 30 years of its life with very little changes to its looks.

In India, Fiat’s isn’t letting go of the Palio as its entry level model. Next year the Palio will receive a facelift to keep abreast with competitors going into the next decade. Structural modifications and a modified steering wheel to make way for the compulsory airbag is planned in 2014.