Fiat India has finally scored a homerun with the Linea and the Grande Punto and it quite evident in the sales figures. But then we have the black sheep of the family, the Palio, which, despite having all the ingredients of a good car, failed to get good responses from the car buyers in India.

And that is one of the reason that the car manufacturer decided to skip the upgradation of the car to the new BS IV norms. Instead Fiat has decided to bring a new small car which, presumably, will be priced about Rs 3.5 lakh (ex-showroom). Another addition to the fleet of Fiat India would be a city car by 2013. This car will be priced around Rs 2.5 lakh and will compete with cars such as Maruti Suzuki Alto.

But prior to the city car, Fiat will bring the replacement car for the Palio. And in all probability, it is going to be a face-lifted Uno. Fiat S.p.A recently released the official pictures of the second-generation Uno, and it would not be too much to assume that Fiat Uno will find its path to the Indian roads.

Internationally, the Fiat Uno is making a comeback as new project Progetto 327. The new Uno is engineered at Brazil and co-designed with Turin’s Fiat Centro Stile. The new Uno will have two new engines: 1.0 Fire Evo and the 1.4 Fire Evo. And both the engines can use alcohol or gasoline or mixed with both fuels.

The 1.0-litre petrol unit will be able to generate up to 75bhp of power, while the 1.4-litre petrol engine be capable of delivering an optimum output of 85bhp of power. Both engines will feature a five-speed manual gearbox with front wheel drive system.

Let’s talk about the looks of the Fiat Uno. Alright, it is not one of the best looking cars. It has got a tall boy image, with a height of 1480 mm, and the length has been kept under 4 metre to get the small car advantage. Fiat claims that Uno is one of the most spacious cars in its segment, with a 280 litre boot space. The rear seats are foldable and increase the spaciousness of the car.

When a company official from Fiat India was contacted, he said, “I’m not aware of this. In any case, we are focussing on new variants of Grande Punto, Linea and our India-specific small car.”

The Fiat Uno was launched in 1983 and it was assembled at Premier Auto’s Kurla plant in Mumbai for the Indian market. Initially, it became quite a hit with the Indian car buyers but, eventually, lost its charm, thanks to the bad dealership network.