Great thinking from Fiat brand CEO Olivier Francois, who announced the upcoming Aegea variants “will be like Ikea”. By that we understand that with minimal tools you could reduce them to a pile of bits, even though that’s not what he’s saying and since this is Fiat, we feel it’s a bit of an unfortunate comparison…
Oh, it could also be that the two new models will be sold through a showroom that has you meander through a maze of rooms that you don’t want to see, before you actually get to the place where you can buy the car and can eat.
Joking aside, the Ikea reference is apparently about being “affordable but smart,” which is how Mr. Francois wants us to perceive the new models.
He describes the models as “functional and not loaded with features that the buyers don’t want to pay for,” which is how most people want their affordable Fiat anyway.
The Bravo it replaces was a good car, but it was never talented enough to make it any higher than middle in any magazine comparo of all the cars in the class. It did beat most of its rivals on style, both inside and out, and I think that was a major reason why people bought it.
Fiat needs to wow us with its Aegea hatch and wagon styling, and if it doesn’t then nobody will want to buy one outside of Italy where it’s a patriotic thing. However, judging by the Aegea photos we’ve seen so far, it won’t be as distinctive compared to its rivals as the Bravo was back in its day (sedan version pictured below).
via Autonews Europe
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