Fiat to Replace Turkish-Engineered and Built Linea with New Model in 2015

As the title of this article so eloquently states, the small Linea sedan was entirely engineered and built in Turkey by Tofaş under a joint-venture agreement with Fiat. It’s based on the same platform as the Puno, and has been in production at the manufacturer’s Bursa plant, in the northwest of the country, since 2007, alongside the cheaper (old Palio-based) Albea and a whole bunch of differently-badged small commercial vehicles.

Now, AutoNews Europe reports that a replacement model for it is now surely in the pipeline, as per a statement made at the Istanbul Stock Exchange, which went along the lines of a $520 / €385 investment in the aforementioned plant “to more than double production to 580,000 vehicles by 2023 from 256,428 in 2012.”

Just like the current Linea, the new car will be designed with a global model mentality in mind, and one third of the production is expected to be steered towards export.

However, no details as to what it will be like have been spilled, so all we can do now is wait for spy photographers to spot the mules, then the heavily camouflaged test cars, before it will finally be fully revealed.

If you have no idea what the Fiat Linea is, or what its purpose is, check it out from an Indian perspective, via the video below (India is the only partly English-speaking country where it is sold).

By Andrei Nedelea

VIDEO

Fiat 500c Abarth's New Topless Ad with Catrinel Menghia is Wickedly Cheeky

If there's one thing Fiat has proven to do well in North America, is capture viewers' attention with its ads - well, at least after it learned its lesson with those out of touch commercials starring Jenifer Lopez.
Exactly a year after the Italians launched the 500 Abarth “Seduction” spot with supermodel Catrinel Menghia at the 2011 LA Auto Show, at the same event this year, Fiat released a new commercial for its 500c Abarth, which is the partially open-top version of the series.

New Fiat 500 Ad: The Next Wave of Italian Immigrants Has Come to America

The Fiat brand is playing the immigration card in a new commercial for the 500 city car family that includes the regular hatchback, the canvas-topped 500C and the sporty Abarth models.
The new TV spot that is titled "Immigrants" is available in 30-, 60- and 90-second versions, and will run on local and national broadcast and cable channels beginning on Monday.
It tells the tale of the 500's departure from the beautiful Amalfi coast and Sorrento in Italy with several cars jumping into the sea and driving under water all the way to New York City.

Belmondo’s Chase Scene from Le Professionnel (1981)

Georges Lautner’s 1981 action-thriller Le Professionnel is about a French Secret Service agent betrayed by his employers and left to rot in an African prison camp. After breaking out and returning to his native France, the agent (played by Jean-Paul Belmondo) begins plotting his revenge against the people who set him up. In this scene, Belmondo is attempting to outfox the French Secret Service agents following him.
Belmodono’s car is the red Fiat 131 Supermirafiori while his rivals are driving a black Peugeot 504. There are a couple of 180 degree turns, a handful of nice pit manoeuvres and the prerequisite shot of the Eiffel Tower for the non-Gallic viewers. The chase eventually moves to the grounds of the Palais de Chaillot, where we discover just how overused that, “driving a car down some stairs,” thing was before Jason Bourne got around to it.

Lucarelli-Monza Crafts Extreme Fiat 500 Abarth with RWD and Mid-Mounted 230HP Engine

There are tuners and there are tuners with some taking the easy way out going for a quick fix while others take up the challenge to create something truly unique. Italy’s Lucarelli-Monza belongs to the second category of tuners. The Monza-based tuning house has revealed details on its newest creation called the 500 Abarth Motore Centrale R230.
As its name implies, the heavily modified Italian hatchback gains a new layout with a mid-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive. Of course, such a radical change is not an easy task with the company having to re-engineer the entire vehicle.
Among other changes, the rear seats of the production model were dropped to create space for the engine while there’s also a new rear suspension set-up and a high-performance braking system with 335mm front- and 305mm rear- discs coupled with four-piston calipers.

Steve Truglia Loops the Fiat 500 at AutoRAI [with Video]

At this week's AutoRAI show in the Netherlands, sponsor Shell partnered with stuntman Steve Truglia to put on a very Hot Wheels performance. Truglia drove a Fiat 500 through a 22-piece loop that stands 11 meters tall and made it look easy. See for yourself in the video after the jump.
According to the Dutch press release, the 500 was gutted and modified with a roll cage, new fuel tank, and an integrated limiter to ensure the right speed. Check out the stunt and interviews in the video below.

Meet the Mefistofele, Fiat's 21.7-liter Record-Breaking Car from Hell

The story of the Mefistofele started in 1908, when Fiat introduced the SB4 chain-driven Grand Prix racer. After seeing it race, Sir Ernest Eldridge from Britain bought the car with the aim of turning it into speed record breaker.
However, there was one problem: the original car's 18.0-liter engine was considered rather small by Eldridge, who decided to replace it with a massive airplane powerplant (you can read a similar story here). He opted for a liquid-cooled Fiat-built 21.7-liter inline six-cylinder unit (type A-12 Bis) that developed 320 horsepower at 1,800 rpm after various upgrades such as the fitting of four valves and four spark plugs on each cylinder.
The story goes that in order to accommodate the long and heavy engine, Eldridge lengthened the SB4's chassis using parts from a London bus. The car was chain-driven and had brakes only at the rear, which made it a handful for even the most experienced of drivers. Interestingly, experts fail to understand even today the mechanism that allowed the car to reverse, since there is no trace of it left.

VIDEO: Le Casse, A Mad Cap Car Chase through the Streets Of 1970’s Athens

Ah, the ‘70s. We had the Oil Crisis and Watergate, microwave ovens and VCRs, Maggie Thatcher and Jimmy Carter. As for cars, well: there were the greats like the Lamborghini Countach, Datsun 240Z and the Dodge Charger. Then there were the not-so-greats like the AMC Pacer, Chevy Chevette and the Ford Mustang Cobra II.
It was the decade that brought us The French Connection, Gone in 60 Seconds and Smokey and the Bandit. It also brought us a relatively unknown (well, to my –ahem- clearly sophisticated tastes) French film called Le Casse (The Burglars).
Oh sure, Bullitt had Steve McQueen in a Mustang and Goldfinger had Sean Connery in a DB5, but you ain’t ever seen a film so brazen to put Omar Sharif behind the wheel of...an Opel Rekord. Well, he is the villain. Surely our hero, Jean-Paul Belmondo, will get to drive something a bit smarter.

VIDEO: Fiat 500 Races Koenigsegg CCX in Swedish Webhost Ad

Here's a car race with a difference: an automotive remake of the classic Tortoise and the Hare story, starring a Fiat 500 as the tortoise and a Koenigsegg CCX as the hare. Well, not a real 500 and CCX; these are 1:24 scale models, and the whole thing is filmed in stop motion. It was made by Swedish filmmaker and photographer Robin Danehav as an advertisement for Binero, a Swedish webhosting service.

New Fiat 500 Prima Edizione: Special Edition Version for U.S. Market

We assume you already know that Fiat is planning to kick off sales of the retro-styled 500 mini in North America at the end of 2010, so let us share the latest news. Fans of the Italian brand here in the States will be treated with the limited-run Fiat 500 'Prima Edizione' (Italian for First Edition), of which only 500 examples will be built.

Fiat X1/9 Monster Truck with V8 Engine - with Video

We're pretty sure that when Bertone's Marcello Gandini was designing the Fiat X1/9 back in the late 70s it would have never crossed his mind that someone from Tennessee could create a monster out of Fiat's mid-engined baby sportscar. The owner of the car dropped the soulless body of the X1/9 atop a shortened Ford F350 truck frame complete with a 351 V8 engine. The vehicle's seller supports on eBay that his creation is 'a real head turner'. We couldn't agree more - once you see it you turn your head the other way... Video and pictures after the jump.

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Via: Cardomain , Link: eBay