Fiat Revitalizes Linea Sedan with a Light Cosmetic Makeover

Created by Fiat as a world car for developing economies including Turkey, India and Brazil, the Linea is based on a stretched version of the Grande Punto's platform and has been in production since 2007.

To stimulate interest in the car, the Italian automaker introduced a refreshed version of the small sedan, which at least in Turkey, will be offered alongside the older model. The facelifted version is called Yeni (for New) Linea, while the original model bears the name Classic Linea.

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Fiat Breaks Free from Tata's Network in India as the Two Companies Reshape their Local Joint Venture

For the past six years, Tata Motors has been managing the distribution and service responsibility of the Fiat branded products in India through joint Tata-Fiat dealerships, but the Italian automaker has now decided to go on its own and take over management control of its commercial and distribution activities in the country.

Established in 2006, the Fiat-Tata joint venture also includes manufacturing activities located in Ranjangaon, which produce Fiat and Tata cars as well as engines and transmissions for both the Indian and export markets and recently announced a contract to supply its Small Diesel Engine to Maruti Suzuki.

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Fiat's Awesome Yet Simple Don't Drink and Drive Campaign

Creative minds can deliver a powerful message about the dangers of drinking and driving without veering off to gory scenes.

Fiat's newest advertising campaign for the Brazilian market is a prime example as the only thing we see in the 15 second-long clip is a beer can.

The short ad starts by displaying a bicyclist riding on the road on the beer's cap along with the words "Now you see" and then shows a hand lifting the metal tab and the tag "Now you don't". Simple yet extremely effective.

Fly past the jump to watch the ad for yourself.

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Detroit's Big Three Face Significant Problems and Big Loses in Europe

All in all, the US automotive industry is in a very good shape, especially if you consider that three years ago General Motors and Chrysler were one step before closing shop.

General Motors, helped by a raft of new products and Toyota’s production problems, is once again the world’s number one car manufacturer. The Pentastar has tied up with Fiat – and even though the latter was thought to be the knight in shining armor, now it is Chrysler that is bringing in the profits while its Italian partner is struggling.

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Chrysler Group Reports Best April Sales Since 2008 with a 20 Percent Increase Over Last Year

The Chrysler Group's U.S. sales in April grew 20 percent over the same month last year to 141,165 units, making it the company's best April since 2008, which was before it went into bankruptcy.

All four brands of the Chrysler Group posted sales increases in April compared with the same month a year ago.

In detail, Chrysler recorded a 56 percent jump to 31,879 units, Jeep +19 percent to 38,684 units, Dodge +2 percent to 45,248 vehicles, Ram +12 percent to 21,505 deliveries, and Fiat +336 percent to 3,849 cars, though the Italian brand was just introduced to the market last year.

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Fiat Abarth 500 and Catrinel Menghia Meet Again in eBay Motors' World's Fastest Car Show Promo

For the third time in the past six months, Romanian model Catrinel Menghia is participating in a commercial as the sensual Italian owner of a Fiat Abarth 500.

After assuming the role in Fiat USA's "Seduction" and "House Arrest" commercials (the later with co-start Charlie Sheen), Menghia returns in an advertisement for eBay Motors' "The World's Fastest Car Show".

As we learned, the short clip has been nominated for this year's Webby Awards in the "Online Film & Video" category. Head past the break to watch the video for yourself.

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Fiat Designers Detail the Styling of the New 500L MPV

One of the main selling points of Fiat's new 500L will be the five-seater model's design that draws its inspiration directly from the successful 500 hatchback.

To explain the design process behind the 500L, Fiat published three new videos featuring several designers that worked on the car.

The 500L is built at Fiat's new factory in Serbia with sales in Europe and other markets around the world to start in the last quarter of 2012. Fiat has said that it plans to launch the larger 500L in the States in 2013.

To watch the videos, hop over the break.

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The Best Towing Fail You've Ever Seen

Sure, we have shown you many, many epic automotive-related fails here on Carscoop, but how many of these incidents do you remember ending up as what would be best described as a win?

The episode starts with a Hyundai Matrix minivan towing (via a rope) a 1980s Fiat Croma sedan. At some point, the Matrix suddenly stops and the driver of the Italian model, evidently because his brakes weren't working, swerved to avoid hitting the Hyundai.

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New Images of the Fiat Viaggio Sedan

In a few days' time, Fiat will debut the new Viaggio sedan at the Auto China 2012 in Beijing, but we just got our hands on a fresh pair of pictures that give us a better view of the compact model - not that you're going to be surprised in any way as the Italian saloon is a rebadged Dodge Dart. Read more »

Fiat's Serbian Plant Open for Business, will Build the New 500L

Italian carmaker Fiat inaugurated its new €1 billion (US$1.31 billion) car production facility in Kragujevac, Serbia, on Monday. More than 150 guests including Mirko Cvetkovic, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, attended the ceremony.

Speaking to the guests, Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne highlighted the country's modernization program, which he said has created "a dynamic environment that is attractive to foreign investors. It is a great privilege for Fiat to be able to participate in the country's future growth".

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Fiat Drops Official Info on New Dodge Dart-Based Viaggio Compact Sedan

After the first photos of Fiat's Viaggio leaked on the web (pun not intended) on Thursday, the Italian carmaker decided it was time to officially release the teaser images and provide initial details on the compact-sized sedan model.

The Viaggio will have its world preview at the 2012 Beijing International Auto Show on Monday, April 23, before it goes on sale in China this fall. The car's name is Italian for voyage or journey, while Fiat says its Chinese name 'Fei Xiang' means flying.

As is evident from the teaser photos, the Viaggio is based on the 2013 Dodge Dart, which in turn, uses Fiat's new CUSW (Compact US Wide) platform derived from the Compact architecture originally developed for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

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Maserati to Build Alfa Romeo 4C at its Modena Plant, will Introduce Three new Models

It's that time of year that the Fiat Group reveals its plans for the near future and on Thursday, the Italian automaker announced that Maserati will expand its product offering and significantly increase volumes over the next two years with the presentation of three new models in three different market segments.

The Italian company did not provide additional information, but we already know that the three new Maserati models planned for production are the Kubang luxury SUV that was previewed in showcar trim at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show, a mid-size sports sedan to compete with the BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe and Mercedes CLS, and the next generation of the large Quattroporte sedan.

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Say Ciao to the Dodge Dart's Italian Cousin, the New Fiat Viaggio

We knew that the Fiat Group is planning to introduce a Fiat-branded version of the Dodge Dart named Viaggio at the upcoming Auto China Show 2012 in Beijing later this month, but now we can show you the first teaser images of the compact sedan.

The images, which surfaced on the Italian forum Autopareri, provide us with a glimpse of the Viaggio's front and rear ends as well as its profile.

Even with these pictures, it's not hard to see that Fiat's re-branding of the Dart is limited to the new bumper and headlamp assembly at the front and the new tail lamps and possibly a more pronounced boot lid edge at the back.

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Things that caught my eye at the 2012 T-Mec rod run

 This is an odd looking Alfa, I don't think it's factory. I've never seen the factory make something this clumsy looking. Commentor Uncle Frank says it's a VW bug kit car, with VW front beam

 A Delmont 88, not going to see another one anyday soon

 Fiat Topolino dragster

the Seattlite, and other cool stuff from Karamelocycles.blogspot.com

the above is a cool shot if the interior of the Alexander Brothers "Deora" custom dodge van

the above is the prototype Mustang if I remember correctly

 Above is a copy of the Davis car brochure

tow a motorcycle with a Fiat... cool!

 these shots are from the 1951 Buick LeSabre prototype that was in the GM styling cross country tours and car shows of the Futureliner and Autoramas. Above is a very cool design around the steering wheel, below are real cool looking gauges

all from http://karamelocycles.blogspot.com/