With the current environment in Europe and especially in Fiat’s home market of Italy, the automaker is no hurry to present a replacement for the Punto, as stated by the company’s CEO Sergio Marchionne himself last year.
And if you’re wondering, the current generation Punto, originally launched as the Grande Punto, before being renamed to Punto Evo for its first facelift in 2009, with Fiat…reverting back to the Punto nameplate for the second facelift in 2012, has been on sale for eight years now – more than enough to show its age in plenty of aspects, even though Giugiaro’s design still holds up today.
For the time being, Fiat is looking to maintain a certain level of sales via the release of new editions and equipment enhancements. In the UK, the Italian company has announced the addition of a new Sporting trim level and specification upgrades across the line-up.
The Punto Sporting is available with either three- or five-doors and a choice two engines including a 1.4-liter petrol with 76hp (77PS) and a 1.4-liter turbo diesel delivering 104hp (105PS).
Appearance features on the Sporting include body coloured rear spoiler and side skirts, gloss black painted roof, gloss black door mirrors, ‘Tarmac finish’ dashboard, black interior roof lining, sports leather steering wheel, leather gear knob and handbrake lever, dark headlamps, dark tinted privacy glass, chrome exhaust tailpipe and 16-inch Sportline alloy wheels. A sports suspension and front fog lights with cornering function also come as standard.
Fiat says it has also enhanced the specification of the entry-level Pop with a new dashboard with diamond embossing aligned to the rest of the range, colour-coded door handles and door mirrors and the addition of a driver’s knee airbag as standard.
The Easy and GBT grades are both improved with sculpted, black Castiglio fabric seats, the addition of front fog lights with cornering function, dashboard and door ambient lighting and side airbags as standard, while the GBT also gains new 16-inch (instead of 15-inch) alloy wheels.
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