The Nanjing-Fiat joint venture produced the Siena sedan, alongside the Palio hatchback and the Palio Weekend wagon. Production of the Siena in China started in 2002 and lasted until 2006, with a facelift in 2005. The car in the photos is a post-facelift example. The Fiat Siena was based on the Fiat Albea, which was made by Fiat in Turkey.
Fiat Siena – Interior
Wow! Many Chinese owners fit seat covers, but the owner of this car has fitted two sets: a white one on top and a cartoon-themed cover underneath. It also has a thick steering wheel cover. The cabin is super clean, even the beige plastics look almost like new. The dials look kind of sporty.
The rear, with a lucky charm hanging from the front seat.
The facelifted Siena had new light units, new bumpers, and updated badges. For comparison, this is the pre-facelift car.
Fiat Siena – Specifications
A 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine powered the 2005-2006 Nanjing-Fiat Siena sedan. The output was 85 hp and 122 Nm. A five-speed manual was the only gearbox option. The top speed was 168 km/h, and 0-100 took 13.2 seconds. Size: 4186/1703/1485, 2439, with a 1085 kg curb weight.
Badges
Character time: 南京菲亚特, Nánjīng Fēiyàtè. The pre-facelift Siena had FIAT badges, without the name of the joint venture. In 2005, the Chinese government issued a decree ordering all Sino-foreign car makers to use Chinese-language company names on their cars from then on.
The new rules exempted car-model names. However, most car names were translated into Chinese for marketing purposes. The Chinese name of Siena was 西耶那, or Xīyénà, a phonetic translation of Siena.
The Fiat Siena was a popular car, priced at a reasonable 64.800 yuan. Sadly, a lack of dealers slowed sales down. 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, which wasn’t a great success either. At the moment, Fiat doesn’t sell cars in China.