Eleven years – that’s how long Fiat plans to keep the current generation of the Punto that was initially launched as the Grande Punto in 2005, before it was renamed to Punto Evo after a light facelift in 2009, and simply Punto in 2012. According to Fiat’s latest product plan documents released on Tuesday, a successor for the European model is scheduled for 2016.
That’s all Fiat mentioned officially, but unofficially, Autonews Europe learned from inside sources that the replacement B-segment model could be named “500 Plus” and will be part of an extended Fiat 500 family, slotting between the 3,545mm three-door 500 hatchback and the 4,150mm 500L small minivan.
Whereas the current Punto is made at Fiat’s Melfi plant in Italy, the same sources said that the 500 Plus will be built at the brand’s Tychy factory in Poland that also makes the classic 500 mini. Fiat is said to invest 2.36 billion zlotys ($784 million) to upgrade the Polish factory for this reason. The move will free up capacity for the manufacturing of the new Jeep Renegade and the upcoming Fiat 500X at the Melfi assembly facility.
According to JATO Dynamics data, European Punto sales dropped 22 percent to 103,822 vehicles last year, about a third of the segment leader Ford Fiesta’s 292,640 deliveries.
By John Halas
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