One of readers, Sandeep Shingade, has spotted the Fiat Doblo in Pune.
One of readers, Sandeep Shingade, has spotted the Fiat Doblo in Pune. The Doblo is a large MPV from Fiat and has been spotted on many previous occasions as well.
Fiat’s global MPV offering, the Doblo, has been seen testing on our soil with a normal registration number plate. The car has been spotted on different occasions in the past and it is still not clear if Fiat is planning to launch it in the Indian market. A couple of months back there was news that Fiat is testing new gearboxes for the Indian market. So one speculation could be that the Fiat Doblo is just a mule of testing Fiat’s new gearboxes that would be applied on current and upcoming cars in the Indian market. This further makes sense as the Doblo is available with the option of a 5-speed and 9-speed automatic gearbox internationally. So it is possible the 9-speed auto box must be doing test rounds to find applications in cars from the Jeep brand that could be launched in India next year.
The version of the Fiat Doblo that was seen testing is the pre-facelift car. The Doblo received a facelift this year internationally. Also, the Fiat Doblo is powered by a 1.6-litre MultiJet diesel engine that is seen on the newly launched Fiat Egea in Turkey. This same engine is expected to run the next generation Linea due for launch in mid-2017. As of now, we can expect the car to be shown at the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo where hopefully we will here some interesting announcements from FCA India. The only thing that we wish if and when Fiat launches the Doblo in India is to give the car conventional rear doors instead of the sliding ones seen on this car as they are often regarded as cheap for a car so big in size.
The Fiat Doblo internationally is available in a total of 5 body shapes – 2-door chassis cab, 2-door pick-up truck, 3-door panel van, 4/5-door panel van and a 5-door LAV (seen here).
Pics: Sandeep Shingade