Paris 2014: Fiat 500X compact crossover unveiled

The all-new Fiat 500X crossover made its first public debut at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. The compact crossover joins its siblings in the Fiat 500 family becoming its sixth member. The Fiat 500 family comprises the Fiat 500, Fiat 500C and Fiat 500L, all of which share its roots with the iconic Fiat 500. The Italian carmaker’s new baby shares its underpinnings with Jeep Renegade and receives a raised ground clearance and plastic cladding that gives the new crossover a robust appearance.

The new Fiat 500X is available in two variants - Metropolitan and Leisure. The former aims at providing an urban appeal while the latter boasts of a rugged design theme. The vehicle gets the same retro-inspired styling of the Fiat 500 family. It gets a more prominent grille, while the bumper features chrome to offer rich feel. It also gets roof rails and a boot mounted spoiler.

The new crossover model is 4,250mm in length (the rugged version is 20mm longer), 1,800mm wide and has a height of 1,600mm which further increases by 10mm with roof rails and 20mm on the four-wheel drive version. The crossover offers a decent boot space of 330-litres which can be further increased with the rear seats folded to haul the camping luggage. The 500X crossover comes with a choice of 12 exterior shades and eight designs for the alloy wheels. Moreover, customers can choose wheels in three sizes- 16, 17 and 18-inch.

Fiat will be offering two engine options on its new crossover. A 1.4-litre Turbo MultiAir II petrol engine churning out 140PS of power and a 1.6-litre MultiJet II oil burner delivering 120PS will do duty under the all-new Fiat 500X. Both the engines are paired to a six-speed manual gearbox, sending power to the front wheels. Also on offer is the more powerful 2.0-litre Multijet diesel with 140PS of power, paired to a nine-speed automatic transmission available with 4WD.

The company will later launch a 1.6-litre E-torQ motor churning out 110PS of power paired to a five-speed manual gearbox and FWD. The other engines to join will be the 1.4-litre Turbo MultiAir II engine with 170PS of power and the 2.4-litre Tigershark unit with 180PS of power. Both the engines are paired to a nine-speed auto gearbox with 4WD as standard.

The all-new Fiat 500X is a global product and will be manufactured at the company’s SATA facility in Melfi, Italy. This new product will be launched in more than 100 countries next year.