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New Fiat Qubo/Fiorino Facelift Might Cross the Atlantic and Be Reborn as a RAM

At one point, somebody had the idea of carving out the panels of a small commercial vehicle such as the Fiat Doblo and replacing them with windows and then fitting a second row of seats behind the front ones. With one simple move, a completely new segment was born.
Fiat Fiorano/Qubo Facelift spied 26 photos
Photo: CarPix
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This segment spoke to those who couldn’t be bothered with such nonsense as exterior (and even interior) design, but valued practicality above everything. They wanted to get the biggest car for their buck, with the most versatile interior and as much space as possible.

You’d be tempted to say “not the type of people who spend a lot of time in art galleries, then,” but you’d be surprised. Not because the art savvies actually like these cars, but because the artists themselves find them extremely useful.

Back in 2007, a new trend emerged when a joint venture between Fiat and PSA Peugeot Citroën scaled down our idea of a small commercial vehicle into something even smaller. That’s how the Fiat Fiorano, Citroën Nemo and Peugeot Bipper came to life, all three of them getting passenger versions as well only one year later. For the Fiat, it was called Fiorano Qubo, Citroën went for Nemo Multispace, while Peugeot opted for Bipper Tepee.

The nature of these vehicles doesn’t make them the prime candidates for facelifts and aesthetic embellishments, so the triplets went along without any intervention until now. A facelift is finally on the cards for Fiat’s model, but don’t imagine that the inevitable visual update was the main reason behind it.

Updating the range of engines sounds like a much more likely reason for this late refreshment, even though the Qubo does already come with a host of diesel and gasoline power units that comply with the latest Euro6 regulations.

The test cars are still wearing plenty of camouflage making it hard to spot any real changes, apart from new headlight graphics and a slightly altered front bumper. The Fiorino/Qubo duo will be keeping that prominent front bumper, though, which is probably good news for the model’s fanbase (as modest as it may be).

Fiat is winter-testing its cars in Sweden where, apart from the Fiorino/Qubo, several other models from the Italian manufacturer can be seen wearing plenty of camouflage while they wait firmly secured on the trailer.

Just like the Dobló or the Ducato did before it, the Fiorino could be hopping over the Atlantic to be sold on the North American market as a RAM model. We too have our doubts whether the American market is ready for such a small commercial vehicle, but it would make a nice addition to the RAM range. Just imagine seeing the little Fiorino next to a 3500 pickup truck - that alone would be worth the trouble.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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