By @Automedia

January 2004

Some two years ago the company was testing heavily camouflaged prototypes of the new crossover-style top-of-the-range. However, with strong in-house competition from the Opel Signum, Fiat's board of managers decided to stop the project and start again from scratch. One of the reasons must have been the superb quality of the Opel and the great variability the car offers.

But here is prove at last: the new model will not be ditched - just postponed. We snapped the second generation prototype of the code-named "New Large" undergoing high-speed testing in Germany.

Still heavily disguised, it's clear the car was penned to be a crossover again, featuring a two-box design with a very high roofline. Different from other "crossovers" (like e.g. the Mercedes R-class), the new Fiat will feature two-wheel-drive only and hence will be a mix between an MPV and an estate rather than an SUV. Scheduled to be ready for presentation in summer 2005, the "New Large" will mark the top end of Fiat's range. Nevertheless, it will still be a midsize car, ranging somewhere between the future VW Golf Plus (the successor of today's Golf Variant) and the Opel Signum.

Potential buyers will have the choice between four-, five- and six-cylinder engines with outputs ranging from 122 to 204 HP. Amongst these will be two turbodiesel units with either 109 or 128 HP.

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