That's an awesome little car. I love my country (US) but I hate our cars. Memo to Big 3: want to know why you have to sell at a loss? Because your cars suck.

Stomaphagus

it's a meaningless dream at this point, but it would be nice if we'd negotiated some kind of common standards with the right-hand drive parts of europe, so that these things were automatically importable.

i understand Smart is going to do work to make their next generation US legal from the start ... it would be wise for Ford and GM's European operations to make the same move. it's a hedge at the very least, and if oil does not fall (to $26 a barrel as GM predicts!), it may be their only lifeline.

FINALY A REAL ITALIAN DESIGN WE HAVE BECOME BORING
FIAT WORKER

It looks neat.

Have any of you seen the EU Ford Focus. It is a 2.1 ton FORD Focus 4 door Estate wagon, 1.6l Duratorg TDCi diesel, that gets a combined 50 mpg (US) emissions rated Euro Step IV. The only problem is that it is not available in North America. It should be noted that the domestic gasoline “green” (California) equivalent gets 26 mpg(US).
Reference:
http://www.ford.co.uk/ie/foc_c307/-/- http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/focus/features/specs/#per

Italians deaign is usually strong. But I've been told that Fiat is not as strong in engineering as it is in design. Anyone know about this car's quality?

Fiat has had ups and downs in the past. This new Punto was jointly developed during Fiat's relatively short lived alliance with GM - the European Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and this new Grande Punto will share the same basic platform. Technically, it is class standard for "superminis" in Europe, and Fiat is renowned for being a leader with its smaller capacity turbo-diesels. However, as this car is seen as make or break for Fiat they have invested a lot of time and money into its the quality and refinement, appearance, etc to reach a high standard to try to recover some ground and put Fiat fully back on the path to recovery in Europe (and even rest of world - e.g. it is this car Fiat has just announced will spearhead their return to Australia late 2006)

Thanks Gordon for that info.
Atm I drive a Fiat Stilo, in the Netherlands. I will move to Australia next year, but were dissapointed by the absence of Fiat. But you made my day. :)

Ever since the 1974 oil crisis, our driving habits has not changed. We still are seeing bigger, heavier vehicles such as SUV on the roads. In order to persuade the public from buying these behemoths, we need more fuel efficient vehicles on the road, that not only perform well on the highway but at the same time fit the needs to those who live in the city.

I wished that the average North American driver could see the benefits of owning smaller, more fuel car, such as brands like Fiat, Smart, Kia and others. Otherwise it's pointless to own a car.