A Fiat Palio 1.3 EDX hatchback, seen in Beijing in 2016. The fine Fiat was in a good shape, with a clean body and with the original wheel covers. The owner had added a very dark kind of window film for extra privacy.
The Fiat Palio was an Italian small car produced in several countries from 1996 until 2016. In China, it was made by the Nanjing-Fiat joint venture from 2002 until 2007, with a late update in 2006. Our car is an pre-update example. The joint venture also made the Fiat Siena (Palio sedan), Palio Weekend (a wagon), and the Fiat Perla (upgraded Siena).
The interior was a fine shape as well, the door panels look surprisingly pristine! The seats are protected by a seat of seat covers, and considering how dusty they are, that was a good idea. The center stack is totally standard, with the Fiat-branded radio-cassette system. The audio was pipes into the car via four speakers.
The Palio was available with 1.3 and 1.5 liter petrol engines, mated to either a 5-speed manual, a 4-speed automatic, or a ‘Speedgear’ CVT. Our white Palio has the 1.3 under the bonnet and the 5-speed manual. Output of the engine was 60 hp and 102 Nm.
EDX was a mid-level trim level. The Palio was available in lots of trim levels, ranging from the base EX to the top HL. Fuzzily, on some trim levels, Fiat used English to indicate what was on it. For example, they had the 派力奥 1.5 HL Sunroof, with a sunroof, and the 派力奥 1.5 EX CD, with a CD player. 派力奥 = Palio. The Palio EDX did not have a CD player or a sunroof, but is was very cheap at just 69.800 yuan.
The brilliant old Fiat badge that consisted of four separate letters. Factory workers must have loved that. Happily, they put ‘m on pretty straight on this car.
The Nanjing-Fiat cars were pretty popular in period but the joint venture was troubled with infighting over investments and new cars, and they never managed to open enough dealers to unlock Fiat’s full potential in China. In 2007 the joint venture was discontinued and much of the tooling went to Zotye. In 2012 Fiat returned to China via the GAC-Fiat joint venture, later GAC-FCA. This business wasn’t very successful for Fiat either, again mainly due to a lack of dealers. These days the joint venture only makes Jeeps.
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