FIAT to present new Punto Evo model at AIC
Italian carmaker group seduced by Vizcaya-based automotive centers innovative concept and state-of-the-art facilities | 18/01/2010Bilbao, 18.1.2010--- The FIAT Group has chosen AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center (Vizcaya) as the setting for the media presentation of its latest FIAT PUNTO EVO model.
Scheduled from January 18 to January 21, the presentation is set to attract 120 motoring journalists to Bilbao to test-drive the new model. This will be the first car launch in Spain in 2010.
During the presentation, journalists will get the chance to take the cars out on a number of routes to see first-hand how the car handles and whether it is an improvement on previous models.
In the words of FIAT Group CEO Carlos Gomes, we chose AIC because we liked the concept of an open innovation center and the design of the actual facilities, which are perfect for this kind of event and which relate really well to what we as a marque want to convey.
Vizcaya Provincial Council chief executive José Luis Bilbao, who also doubles as AIC Foundation chairman, said he was most grateful to the group for choosing AIC as the perfect venue for this type of event. He also hoped this would be the start of a long-term relationship with FIAT, something that was already happening with other projects that had chosen AIC.
A natural replacement for the Fiat Grande Punto (in its day the groups biggest commercial success story, with more than 7 million cars sold since the launch of the first generation), the FIAT PUNTO EVO represents a bold technological step forward from its predecessor. Quality, safety and technology were the watchwords during the Punto Evos development. The new model has several outstanding features, including a range of MultiAir petrol engines, revamped diesel engines and an automatic Start&Stop system. The new model also has more airbags than its predecessor, lateral headlights and a new Blue&MeTomTom sat nav GPS.
The Fiat Group has been active on the Spanish market since 1919. Today it is one of the leading industrial groups with foreign capital in the country and one of the groups with highest export potential.
Furthermore, the Group has industrial and commercial interests throughout the automotive industry, being involved with cars, industrial vehicles, farm machinery and heavy earth-moving vehicles, automotive components, production systems and even financial and research activities. The Fiat Groups annual turnover in Spain tops the 4,000-million mark
In the Basque Country, Fiat Group business interests feature a company called Comau, one of the few global providers in robots for the automotive industry and a world leader in welding systems. The Comau factory in Vizcaya provides a base from which the firm provides services to a range of car and vehicle makers.
AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center is a foundation backed by the Vizcaya Provincial Council, the Amorebieta-Etxano and Ermua town councils, a group of leading-edge automotive businesses and Basque automotive cluster ACICAE. AIC concentrates on any knowledge, training, technology and industrial development activities capable of generating improvements in competitive levels in the regions automotive industry.