Maserati looks for new baby Fiat

It is also heading here and Fiat Auto SA's spokesperson Clynton Yon told Wheels24 that it could go on sale locally somewhere in the first quarter of 2006.

Fiat says that its new Grande Punto has been designed from the outset to be a larger vehicle than the current model. It will be available as a three and five-door.

The Grande Punto measures 403 cm in length, 168 cm in width and 149 cm in height; and with a wheelbase of 251 cm Fiat claims an "extraordinary amount" of interior space.

The car is designed by Italdesign-Giugiaro, in partnership with Centro Stile Fiat, and its styling resembles that of Maserati models such as the Coupé and Spyder.

At launch there will be two petrol engine options: 1.2 8v (46 kW) and a new 1.4 8v with 55 kW; and four turbodiesels: 1.3 16v MultiJet (53 kW), or 1.3 MultiJet with a variable geometry turbine (65 kW); and 1.9 MultiJet with either 87 kW or 94 kW.

The arrival of the all-new Grande Punto will not signal the end of the current Punto, which continues in production as a value for money model.