Fiat Tipo (1988)

The Fiat Tipo (Type 160) was a compact car designed by the I.DE.A Institute design house and produced by Fiat between 1988 and 1995. Unveiled in January 1988 and on sale in Europe from June that year, it was at first offered only as a five-door hatchback, built entirely from galvanized body panels to avoid rust on a completely new Fiat platform that Alfa Romeo and Lancia models later shared, with a dashboard by Rodolfo Bonetto. Its boxy styling gave rear passenger room greater than a rear-wheel-drive Ford Sierra in a car of about the size of a Ford Escort, and in 1989 it won the European Car of the Year award. Power from 58 to 148 PS came from petrol, diesel and turbodiesel engines, a three-door version arrived with the 1993 facelift, and the car was also built in Brazil and in Turkey by Tofaş. Italian production ended in the summer of 1995, when the Bravo and Brava replaced it.