44 | FIRST DRIVE
New Ducato highlights the changing face and times at Fiat Professional
Across Europe, Fiat somehow lost its way under the Marchionne era. With respect to the late Sergio Marchionne, head of Fiat Automobiles from the mid-noughties to his death in 2018, he concentrated practically all of his time and effort in taking over Chrysler in North America and integrating the long established and once-leading US brand into the newly formed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles global group. While all of this was going on, Fiat’s market share in Europe began to slide through lack of investment in product renewal, both on the car and commercial sides of its business.
FLEETTRANSPORT | APR - MAY 22
With the 500 and the Tipo model lines waving the Italian flag on the passenger car side, the Ducato has kept soldering on in the van sector, mainly through its ongoing success in the growing camper van segment. With regard to the other commercial models within the Fiat Professional range, the Doblo small van is now dated compared to its competitors, while the Talento, based on the Renault Trafic has never worked as a suitable replacement for the popular Scudo. At the compact end of the market, production and sales of the Fiorino city van trickled down dramatically following PSA Groupe’s withdrawal of the Peugeot Nimo and Citroen Bipper from the joint manufacturing project. Fiat also tapped into the pick-up market with a rebadged version of the Mitsubishi L200, called the Fullback, albeit with limited success. However a new dawn is now emerging for flagging Fiat, thanks to the amalgamation of FCA and Groupe PSA (Peugeot/ Citroen/Opel/Vauxhall) to form Stellantis in 2020. Almost immediately a major focus was centred towards vans and this is already proving beneficial for Fiat Professional. Ducato has benefited from a major overhaul, featuring the latest in high levels of
technology covering active and passive safety equipment and broader elements to its driver interface systems. A new Scudo is coming, this time based on the multi-award winning medium vans from PSA, and is due to enter markets soon.
It is expected that the new Doblo will also come from the PSA small van family. Meanwhile, independent of the Stellantis merger, Fiat Professional’s engineering team has developed a stand-alone hi-tech electric version of the Ducato, now on sale across Europe. A week test driving the new long wheelbase, high roof Ducato brought home the message that Fiat Professional is back. The newly shaped grille and a revival of the vintage Fiat badge set the tone on what to expect inside. And yes, it’s a revelation. Impressive indeed. Well fitted and kitted out. From the well-padded seats, to the steering wheel that features a host of convenience systems, to the digital mirror, all contributing to raise the bar further. In fact, Fiat Professional’s latest
