The quirky yet uber practical Fiat Mulitpla - A quirky design that evokes the love it / hate it emotion..all at the same time! Fiats Multipla (1998 to 2010) was hated by many for the way it looked, yet was critically acclaimed for its practicality quotient and super efficient use of space with the ability to seat 6 people in comfort - three abreast at the front and back! No wonder its the choice of cab car for many a car rental companies in European nations. And we thought the Honda Jazz was good at efficient utilization of cabin space. Based on the Brava, the Multipla was shorter and wider than its rivals. The Multipla was even shorter than the three-door Fiat Bravo upon which it was based, despite offering substantially more space and seating. It won the Top Gear Car of the Year (1999) and was voted Top Gear Magazines Family Car of the Year for four years in a row (2001–2004). Also, when Simon Cowell went on Top Gear he was shown a picture of the car and said it had a disease. Haha! Engines included a 1.6 L 103 PS petrol motor - the same as the ones powering our Palio or the 120 PS producing 1.9L Mjet motor. Infact, I do remember Fiat India was very very close to launching this car right after the Palio, given that the engines could be shared. A lot of testing was done here, pictures and articles about the car were written in mags and auto blogs. However, the Palio bombed and Fiat India decided to not take the chance of launching a high risk vehicle like this..something that could be killed due to its oddball styling. The bad reputation of Fiat India would not help it anyways. In 2004, the Multipla underwent a major facelift to shed its original styling for a more restrained look, with the intention of attracting more buyers. So it was a unique automobile with its distinct character - a radical exterior and an equally radical interior layout. Check the pics. I think if the timing was right, maybe post 2005, the facelifted version could have done well as the it did not look as radical as the previous gen car. Well, the Santro was an oddball in terms of looks, so you never know..maybe this would strike a chord with its unparallelled practicality quotient. What do you guys feel? Was it yet another missed opportunity for Fiat India? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Multipla
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 10:33:36 +0000
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