CNG variant for Palio and Punto soon

[Chuchan]

The company had plans to roll out the CNG variant of the Palio in early 2009. According to analysts, the Palio and the Grande Punto are the two probable cars that Fiat is initially considering for CNG.

CNG is seen as a viable option primarily because of assured domestic supplies.

Source:The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Business | Fiat CNG variants

[beejay]

There was a rumor a while back of a CNG Palio. however it never happened.
I read about it in the Hindu too, there was mention of a new small car being developed in Turin for the Indian market. date of launch was mentioned as 2011.

Any body got scoops?

[longhorn]

These guys need to get their quality control right first before going in for CNG. The Palio might as well be scrapped going by the number of units being sold (20 in Oct).

[beejay]

AFAIK there was no mention about a Palio CNG.
Just for thoughts,
The Palio CNG was old news and it never happened and it never did excite me anyways.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by Chuchan

The company had plans to roll out the CNG variant of the Palio in early 2009. According to analysts, the Palio and the Grande Punto are the two probable cars that Fiat is initially considering for CNG.

CNG is seen as a viable option primarily because of assured domestic supplies.

Source:The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Business | Fiat CNG variants

1) It must be early 2010. May be autoexpo they will unveil the cars.

2) Thanks to diesel options available, CNG cars will hardly bring in more sales. First CNG cylinder will eat into boot space that is already not very large. Second, there will be a slightly lower performance from engine. This cannot be ignored. Whatever tuning is done, this fact is going to remain, though the overall effect will vary. But this just can't go.
Third, the car will be expensive by around Rs. 40-50K atleast.
Fourth, CNG filling. Though its not a hassle anymore, its not as simple as filling in petrol or diesel.
Also the CNG cylinder will weight around 90-100 kg, which means we can consider boot to be always loaded.

Availability. On the highway trip its not necessary that CNG will be available everywhere. The boot is not available + no CNG.

Now compare this with the diesel offerings for the cars. They have good torque, good power ( though Punto demands higher power ) and they dont lose any bit of power unlike CNG ( running in CNG mode ), filling in is simple and most importantly, the boot is not lost. Considering the inital cost difference between petrol and diesel versions will be a bit lower, who will opt for CNG.

Only those who have more than one car and plans to use the car only for city will opt for CNG. CNG is good means to reduce running cost, but overall it will be equal. Probably you will drive more as running cost are lower.
Overall, if the car is only to be used for city people will buy it. And here also cheaper and proven cars are available.

Not a good idea. I think Fiat must spend its resources in putting in higher power diesel in PUnto and Linea than putting in CNG.

[sheetumanu]

Originally Posted by beejay

There was a rumor a while back of a CNG Palio. however it never happened.
I read about it in the Hindu too, there was mention of a new small car being developed in Turin for the Indian market. date of launch was mentioned as 2011.

Any body got scoops?

I read about it in Times of India this morning. It's called FIAT SPA, a small car falling in A or B segment with 700~1000 CC engine.

FIAT: You already have a lot to do. Punto's interiors, ***, 1.6 MJD Linea, Punto with VGT, branding etc etc; work these out first before giving us one more options.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by sheetumanu

I read about it in Times of India this morning. It's called FIAT SPA, a small car falling in A or B segment with 700~1000 CC engine.

FIAT: You already have a lot to do. Punto's interiors, ***, 1.6 MJD Linea, Punto with VGT, branding etc etc; work these out first before giving us one more options.

Fiat SPA refers to the name of the company and not the car.

Italian companies attach SPA.

[coolkurt]

I really don't feel that its worth coming out with a CNG variant for the Palio. The sales in recent times have been dismal. Fiat should contemplate discontinuing it but I guess they won't do it anytime soon. Not until they have an alternative to offer in their stable.

[longhorn]

IMO they might probably be looking at a CNG variant for the Linea and GP, not the Palio. For the Palio, its high time they pulled the plug.

[dhrishikesh]

Is Fiat is thinking that Palio & Punto should be used as cool cabs ??
Is it going to be a ECO WAR between all hatchback segment cars ??

[GTO]

I think it's a great move! The Punto is settling down to becoming a niche player in the hatch segment and, simply put, what it needs is more niches. Look at what the WagonR Duo did to the car's sales figures...they shot through the roof! With LPG prices being where they are now, CNG makes for a fantastic option to those who are looking at economical commuting. The only grey area around CNG installs has been the quality of install, safety and consistent performance. Factory-fitted kits rarely encounter these issues and thus, I do think that a factory CNG Punto has potential.

Agree with the other comment though, no point trying to do anything to the Palio. RIP.

[deepakhon]

The only drawback I can think of is that CNG is available only in select areas. For example, I have not seen CNG filling stations anywhere in South India yet. So, with CNG, Fiat is targetting only a certain area. But, if they were to bring out the LPG variant too, then it will be great. Also, LPG can be tuned in such a way that the power loss is very minimal, as compared to the petrol variant.

BTW, Fiat released the flexi-fuel variant of 1.4 T-Jet engine in Brazil. It runs on Petrol, Ethanol, a mixture of these two, and if I remember correctly, on LPG too.

[lapis_lazuli]

Any news on the CNG fitment for the petrol Punto or a dedicated CNG variant?. It seems to be the need of the hour , a reliable CNG kit for the "puntophiles". Any ideas when it might get launched or any insider news?

On a different note, has any BHPian tried retrofitting a petrol Punto with a CNG kit?

[Eddy]

Note from Support: Please use an existing Punto or CNG thread.