Two new Fiat models

Is there no stopping Fiat? The once-troubled Italian car maker has let slip that it has two more models winging their way to production – and both have the potential to create a real stir.

Details of the newcomers – dubbed B-Compact and C X-Over – were flashed up on screen for a fraction of a second during a presentation at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Scheduled for a 2009 launch, the B-Compact will sit between the Panda and Grande Punto. Described by Fiat as a ‘modern family car with affordable Italian style’, it comes with three and five-door options and will be a cheaper alternative to the Grande Punto. It will be based on a cut-down version of that car’s platform, and bosses are considering resurrecting the Uno name for the model when it arrives in 2009.

Also heading for European showrooms is the larger C X-Over, a five-door crossover car with two or four-wheel-drive options. The newcomer uses the same platform as the latest Bravo, will slot into the range above the Sedici and go head-to-head with the likes of the Nissan Qashqai and Ford’s new Kuga. Fiat also reveals that the model will be 4.5 metres long and cost £14,000-£18,000 when it arrives in 2010.