It’s been around a decade since the Punto made its global debut. Built solid, spacious, powered well and adorning a timeless design, the Punto has managed to soldier on agelessly. From the product life cycle perspective, however, it’s high time the Italian car maker refreshed its big hatch. And by the looks of it, Fiat is pretty close to putting the new generation Punto in production.
A Brazilian website has come up with these spy images taken by its reader. The images are supposedly of the new generation Punto, which will eventually make its way to India as well. The images were taken in Betim region, near the main factory of the brand. The test mule is heavily camouflaged, but has enough hints to suggest that it’s indeed the new Punto.
While the man who snapped the car prefers to think that the model looked closer to the new-gen Palio than the next Punto, some official sources in Fiat informed the Brazilian site that it actually is the new Punto. The biggest giveaway is the wheelbase, meant to be much longer than the Palio platform. Expected to be launched in early 2017, the new generation Punto will replace the existing Punto across Latin America, and hopefully in the European countries too.
Codenamed X6H, the new generation Palio is expected to be powered by a new, modern family of engines. Petrol power will be delivered thought the new 1.4 liter GSE engine expected to dish out 100 bhp of power and 140 Nm of torque. There is no clarity about a new gen version of the 1.4 T-Jet though. On the diesel front, we may expect a new generation version of the Muti-Jet 1.3 turbo, which has been going on for a very long time now, and can very well do with a major update.
Even though heavily camouflaged, the car reveals certain details quite clearly. The 5×3 alloy wheels look neat with their two tone treatment. The cabin is also partially visible in one of the images revealing a circular side air vent. The tail lamps will flank the rear windscreen in a vertically stacked setup with circular reverse lights at the lower ends. Other details such as a rear roof spoiler and a radio antenna are also clearly visible in the spy images.
Peeping through the camouflage up front, the headlamps also reveal their extended, wraparound shape. From whatever little is visible there, we assume that the car will get a projector setup for illumination purposes.
Even with the claddings on, the proportions of the new car appear to be bang on the money, and one can safely assume the next gen Punto car to look smart and trendy upon launch.
Expect the new Punto to reach our shores by mid to late 2017. Do share your thoughts. Here’s a set of all the spy images
Source: Carplace.uol