Fiat and Ford to develop city car

07 November 2005

Joint venture based on Fiat Panda
First cars expected in 2007/08
Aim to sell 240,000 a year

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Ford and Fiat today revealed that they will co-develop future city cars together.

The news means that the next Ka and Cinquecento will be built in the same factory in Poland and share engines and other mechanical underpinnings – just like the new Aygo, C1 and 107 jointly developed by Toyota, Citroen and Peugeot.

Ford and Fiat will launch their new city cars between 2007-08 and they expect to sell a joint total of 240,000 models annually, some 60,000 fewer than their Japanese-French rival alliance.

Fiat has already unveiled the Trepiuno concept car (pictured), a retro-styled homage to the classic 500 'mini. It gives numerous pointers to the future Cinquecento, although the production car is likely to ditch the show car’s experimental three-seater layout.

Ford has not given any hints about its Ka successor, but it is expected to offer a wider range of models than today’s line up, which is only available with two engines.

The duo will be based on the oily bits from the Fiat Panda – a car which won the European Car of the Year gong when it was first launched and which whatcar.com rates highly. Engines will be plucked from Fiat’s extensive small-car family.

Manufacturers are increasingly turning to joint ventures to cut costs and development times by pooling their resources. This is especially true in the city car market, where profit margins are already slim.