Fiat Croma (1985)

The Fiat Croma of 1985 is an upper-medium family saloon launched by Fiat in December 1985 to replace the Fiat Argenta, itself a descendant of the Fiat 132. Inside the company it was called the Tipo Quattro and carried the type code ZFA 154. It was a joint project with Lancia, which made the Thema, Alfa Romeo, which turned it into the 164, and Saab, which adapted it as the 9000, all on one platform, while Giorgetto Giugiaro drew the two-and-a-half box body. With it Fiat gave up rear-wheel drive across its own range, since the car was front-wheel drive, and the line at the Mirafiori plant in Turin was fully robotised. It was made in three series. The second, shown at Turin in April 1988, carried the first direct-injection diesel in a passenger saloon, a 1,929 cubic centimetre unit of 90 horsepower. In all 438,000 were built in eleven years.