Fiat Auto has been in a state of turnarounds and changes for what seems like an eternity. Now the Croma, a new flagship model touted as the brands latest saviour, has arrived. But will it meet up to expectations?
Fiat Auto has been in a state of turnarounds and changes for what seems like an eternity. Now the Croma, a new flagship model touted as the brands latest saviour, has arrived. But will it meet up to expectations?
by Hailey Philander, Assistant News Ed
I don’t like station wagons at all. Not since I spent several childhood summers piled in the back of my uncle’s rattley Peugeot en route to the beach where one of my bratty cousins would demolish my perfectly sculpted sand castles. I hated those trips to the beach.
I approached the launch of the new Fiat Croma with a similar sense of dread. Not the sweaty palms, hide-under-the-couch-and-hope-no-one-finds-you type of anxiety, but close enough.
When first I heard that Fiat was plotting its perennial turnaround with a “large car”, I was one of the sceptics. In recent times, large cars have fallen out of favour, to be replaced with smaller city cars for the week and larger SUVs or MPVs for weekend activities.
Offering what Fiat SA commercial director Oscar Rivoli labelled the practicality of an MPV with the styling of a saloon, the Croma will slot into the upper C and lower D segments of the market. Not a traditional station wagon or MPV or saloon, the car has been dubbed a “comfort wagon” by designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.
The arrival of the company’s new flagship model just months after its European launch has been hailed as the start of many new things for Fiat in South Africa. Our route incorporated stops at two of the company’s new dealerships in Newcastle and Vereeniging and, in the short term, Fiat hopes to have 39 outlets nationwide.
The Croma is assembled at Fiat’s Cassino plant in Italy, and Giorgio Gorelli, chief executive of Fiat SA, says that customer demand will dictate the car’s volumes.
To read more about the new Fiat Croma and view the gallery click here.