| Fiat's Small Car Concept | ||
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(18 Feb 04)
The prototype Trepiùno is a size down from the 2004 Punto, just 3.3 metres long and fitted with a glass Sky-dome instead of a conventional metal roof. Throughout the design, the main theme is to keep things simple, although Fiat says that here, "Simplicity does not mean stripped bare, but exemplifies a particular approach to styling and construction where the aim is simplified use." So the seats are much slimmer than usual, thanks to their polyurethane construction. Partly because of that, and partly because of the flexibility of the interior with its ingenious arrangement of seat movements, backrests and cushions, it’s possible for this very short hatchback to provide three-plus-one seating in which "the front passenger seat is almost swallowed up by the fascia". But the fascia can be converted to provide additional room for the front passenger’s legs.
Specific lighting changes show that an operation like adjusting the temperature of the air conditioning has been completed, so that the driver doesn’t have to look down to check. And the Trepiùno uses lighting in other ways too: at night, the passenger cabin is illuminated by LED displays in the floor and the door pockets. There’s no word at the moment of powertrain details or an intention that anything like the concept car will go into production. But it’s unlikely that a company which has gone back into the small car sector where it has been so successful in the past (see our book review on that very subject) has done all this work just for a one-off display. |
There’s more to the fascia than that, though. It has upper stowage spaces and central controls, which don’t have to be prodded. Like the touch-screen audio and navigation systems in some larger cars, or indeed at supermarket check-out desks, they’re set under a transparent film, and all you have to do is run a finger across them to make them work.
