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Linea thought

Fiat might now be playing its innings in India with a straight bat, but its to-be-launched, all-new sedan is the result of a lateral approach to car making, says RACHNA TYAGI

LINEA AND MEAN You just can't take Maserati out of Fiat, can you? `Quattroporte' is written all over the Linea's nose, while cues from Audi have also inspired the designers' brief.

The stunning sedan you see on this page is the all-new Grande Punto-based Linea, and yes, it's coming to India in a bit. Incidentally, welcome to Fiat. Again. After lurking around for what seems like quite a while, Fiat is now all ready to plunge into the Indian car market in a big way. The beleaguered manufacturer has taken quite a bit of effort to get its act back together in the country. Now, with the Fiat-Tata alliance firmly in place, and the new manufacturing facility being put together rapidly at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra, Fiat is definitely set to bat a better innings here country soon.

The Linea is to be launched at the Istanbul Motor Show in Turkey during the first week of November this year by Tofas, a joint venture between Fiat Auto and Koç Holding. The car will be produced at their Bursa plant; with an annual production of 60,000 units planned. The rest of Europe and alongside, India, will probably get to meet the car first-hand sometime around mid-2007.

Known internally as the D200, this Corolla-sized saloon will be built on the award-winning Fiat Grand Punto platform and in all likelihood, will feature an advanced diesel engine, but more on this later. The Linea will also be priced aggressively - indications are that you'll pay around Rs 7-8 lakh for this stunning package. Read on!

Oomph at 100mph

The Linea is all-Italian exotic from a styling viewpoint. For the first time round, Centro Stile, Fiat's styling department, decided to make a fundamental change, building a car that was attractive first, with practicality woven in later. And this meant that engineers were asked to work alongside designers. The Linea is also a product of fast-track development - the car was readied for production in eighteen months, as opposed to the 24-36 months that it normally takes to undertake such a project.

While details on the interiors are yet awaited, the exterior styling is bound to take your breath away. For instance, while the rounded snout, merging bonnet, fender and bumper are similar to the Grande Punto (which derives more than mere inspiration from the Maserati Quattroporte), emphasis has been laid on attaining a longer wheelbase of 2600mm, similar to the Toyota Corolla. Thereby, the profile of the car has been lengthened, and this stretch has gifted the car with the kind of looks expected from a machine a couple of classes above.

Needless to say, the design job has the right touch of exotic to it, and the new, longer rear door and the sweep of the roof is carried over beautifully to the rear of the car - in other words, the Linea doesn't look like, crudely put, the hatchback chop-job that it is. The car comes with a cavernous 500-litre boot but thanks to the roofline, which extends well into the back, the boot does not stick out like a sore thumb.

A new nose job, Quattroporte-like high mounted headlights and an Audi-like grille and turret-mounted fog lamps are all part of the car's new identity. Come to think of it, the Linea seems to draw heavily from Audi design cues such as the tall grille, the high nose, high-mounted headlights, sweeping roof, front arches and alloys.

Loco-motivation

Fiat will also ensure your adrenaline levels are not quite the same after you've had a taste of the Linea. With plans for a 140 or even a 150bhp version of their 1.9 Multijet, third-generation common rail diesel, reputed to be one of the most refined and smooth-running diesels in its class today, the 90bhp Skoda Octavia may soon see itself scouting for a berth in the Smithsonian Museum. While the Linea is slated to be first launched in Turkey with the smaller capacity 1.3 Multijet motor, Fiat India may enlist this 85bhp diesel into the line-up as well. Additionally, a 110bhp, 1600cc petrol and a 129bhp 1.8 are also under consideration, along with "innovative gearboxes."

Considering Fiat doesn't enjoy the reputation that it used to until a few years back here, it has quite a tough road to negotiate ahead, at least in terms of rebuilding its brand all over again. However, if the manufacturer gets its pre-launch and after-sales acts together first, the Linea could just be the machine that reverses Fiat's poor run in India.

TECHNICAL DATA

FIAT LINEA

How much?

Rs 7-8 lakh (estimated)

How big?

Length: 4,560 mm
Width: 1,730 mm
Height: 1,500 mm
Wheelbase: 2,600 mm
Boot volume: 500 litres

Engine

1600cc, 110bhp/ 1800cc, 129 bhp petrol and
1300cc, 85 bhp/ 1900cc, 140-150 bhp Multijet diesel options
Transmission

Synchromesh,
5-speed, manual/ automatic

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