Fiat Chrysler A-Segment Car to Replace Uno Mille in Brazil, Sell in India

TURIN – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ new A-segment car planned for Latin America is expected to fill the Fiat Uno Mille’s vacated slot in Brazil and be a key entry for the India market as well.

Italian news agency ANSA says the new model will be based on the IDD concept car. It is expected to hit Latin American markets, as well as India, in fall 2015.

Last week, FCA spelled out its 5-year strategy in which the Latin American region is to get a new compact pickup next year to go along with the new-generation Mille, and add a new Punto, B-sized CUV and Grand Siena in 2016. Plans call for a revamped Palio to bow in 2017 and a new Siena to debut in 2018.

The new Uno Mille – the previous-generation model was phased out last year – is expected to be Fiat’s lowest-priced entry in Latin America, where it will compete with such models as the Volkswagen Up!, Chevrolet Spark and Hyundai i10. It will have big shoes to fill within the Fiat lineup, as the Uno and its Mille derivative have sold more than 2 million units in the region and have been on the market’s best-sellers list for years.

ANSA says the car’s development has been sped up under the project codenamed X3C. Mules seen undergoing testing around the FCA plant in the Minas Gerais capital of Belo Horizonte suggest the new model will make do with the platform from the first-generation Panda. It will offer a roomy cabin for up to five adults, but will be designed and equipped so as not to dent sales of higher-priced Fiat models.

Only 4-cyl. engines, sourced locally, will be offered. All will be flex-fuel capable to run on bio-ethanol.