Fiat's future is a hot topic, but in Turin last week Fiat gave us their vision - the marque will be alive into the 21st century with 21 new models and €8 billion in investment up to the end of 2005. Confident stuff, and there was even the roll-out of a Panda-type car, and a new small MPV-configured vehicle.
But the main business was to unveil a compact 1,251cc four-cylinder common-rail turbodiesel engine - the 1.3 Multijet 16-valve. Multijet means multiple injections into the combustion chamber. More injections mean quieter combustion, lower emissions and better performance. A drive in a Punto with the new engine indicated that the diesel credentials were almost undetectable.
Multijet is the progeny of a joint venture company of Fiat and GM. More than 500,000 will be produced annually, going into both manufacturers' smaller cars later this year. It claims to be the world's smallest and lightest four-cylinder automotive diesel. Its miniature dimensions allow it to be fitted in segment B superminis and segment A city cars. Fiat says that the 1.3 Multijet is designed to last 250,000 kms (155,000 miles) instead of the normal 150,000 kms (93,000 miles). During this time the engine requires no maintenance to its mechanical parts. Oil change intervals are expanded from 20,000 to 30,000 kms. And it meets Euro 4 emission limits due in 2006. Fiat says it is one of a few engines to achieve this result without a post-treatment device, such as a particulate trap.
Small diesel engines, like Multijet, are uncommon. We have spurned small diesels here due to a price premium over petrol-engined models. At the press conference about the Multijet unit, we heard the premium might only be €1,200 but it depends on tax regimes. We think that small cars with Multijet could give us a better deal, a way of hitting back at Charlie McCreevy's tax-gathering regime. Joe Gantly for Fiat Auto Ireland thinks it signals better times ahead. "It's premature to talk about pricing but we will do our utmost to make it appealing and we would like to think the Government would recognise the environmental merit."