IAB Report - Fiat Avventura to be launched before October 6

The Avventura will lock horns with the VW Cross Polo and Toyota Etios Cross.

On the sidelines of the Fiat Punto Evo's launch in Chennai today, President and Managing Director of Fiat Chrysler India Mr. Nagesh Basavanahalli told Indian Autos Blog that the Fiat Avventura crossover will launch within 60 days. The automaker has already started teasing the car.

The Avventura instant crossover which made its world debut at the Auto Expo is essentially a Punto Evo with crossover paraphernalia. The car features projector headlamps, bumper mounted LED DRLs, black plastic lower body cladding, rugged looking front and rear bumpers with skid plates, roof rails, prominent black rub-strips, exclusive 16-inch alloy wheels and a rear mounted spare wheel.

The interior of the Avventura gets an all-black theme with contrast stitching, just like in the top-end Punto Evo Sport variant. The Avventura, positioned as an adventure-seeker's car, gets roll-and-tilt gauges.

The Avventura would inherit the Punto Evo's powertrain options which comprises a 1.2-litre petrol, a 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.3-litre diesel in two states of tunes, all mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. Interestingly, the Auto Expo show car featured a 6-speed manual gearbox but it remains to be seen whether the production version will get it.

Competitors: VW Cross Polo, Toyota Etios Cross

Expected Price: INR 6 - 8 lakhs, ex-showroom

Launch Date: By early October 2014