The Fiat 500X shares its underpinnings with the Jeep Renegade but carries the 500 family appearance coupled with a raised ground clearance and body cladding.
Bringing a new model to the rapidly expanding 500 family, Fiat has world premiered the 500X Crossover at the ongoing Paris Motor Show. Joining the likes of the 500, 500C, 500L, 500L Trekking and 500L Living models, the 500X is a compact Crossover that retains the quintessential and iconic 500 family styling traits, while its underpinnings are shared by the more rugged Jeep Renegade. The Italian auto giant has retained the soft and peppy look from the original 500 and has coupled it with a raised ground clearance and some body cladding to satiate the rugged appeal that goes with a crossover.
The Fiat 500X will be available in two versions with one aimed at providing a leisure, stylish and urban appeal, while the other carries a more off-road look loaded with equipment. The crossover measures 4250 mm in length (20 mm longer on the rugged model), 1800 mm in width and 1600 mm in height, which further increases by 10 mm with roof rails and 20 mm on the 4-Wheel Drive version. The boot capacity stands at 330-liters and can be further increased with the rear seats folded to haul all that camping luggage.
In terms of powertrain, Fiat will be offering the 1.4-litre Turbo MultiAir II petrol engine that produces 140 PS of power and also a 1.6-litre MultiJet II diesel motor with 120 PS on offer. Both the engines are paired to a 6-speed manual gearbox, sending power to the front wheels. Also on offer is the more powerful 2.0-litre Multijet diesel with 140 PS of power, paired to a 9-speed automatic transmission available with 4WD. The lineup will later get a 1.6-litre E-torQ motor with 110 PS of power paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox and FWD. In addition, the 1.4-litre Turbo MultAir II engine with 170 PS and the 2.4-litre Tigershark unit with 180 PS are also on offer. Both the engines are paired to a 9-speed auto gearbox with 4WD as standard.
Fiat will be offering the rugged versions of the 500X with the new ‘Drive Mode Selector’ which comes in 3 modes – Auto, Sport and All Weather, which accordingly tunes the engines, brakes and steering for optimum performance. The Leisure version on the other hand gets ‘Traction’ function, which replaces the all weather mode and provides power to the rear axle in 4WD models or more grip to the front wheels in FWD models. The Fiat 500X will be produced in the updated SATA plant in Melfi, Italy, and will be sold in more than 100 countries worldwide from next year, it is however not set for an India launch.
