What you are looking at is the rendering for the Fiat FCC4 (Fiat Concept Car 4) that was unveiled at the Sao Paulo Auto Show in Brazil. The official statement on what this chimera is supposed to be reads like this: It’s a “four-door coupe with an adventurous soul”. What it looks like is the first two-thirds of a Jeep Cherokee mashed with the tail end of Maserati and the back window of a late-1970s Chevrolet Caprice coupe to create a vehicle that seems to be inspired by the likes of the Honda Accord Crosstour and the BMW X6. Except under the back tonneau cover is a pickup bed that appears to have the back quarters split 30/60 in a swing-open style.
FCA haven’t released any details on what exactly this thing is all about. The only hard facts known are that it is six foot three inches wide, five feet tall and sixteen and a half feet long, making this one of the largest Fiats ever made. But is it really poised to be a Fiat product at all? The majority of the design cues say “Jeep”, and Chrysler LLC had gone to the trouble of trademarking “Rebel”, a name that was deep in the AMC files. What isn’t known is what this vehicle indicates for the future of FCA. If it’s truly a ute design, don’t expect to see it in the U.S. If it’s a lifestyle vehicle or another SUV/Coupe crossover, FCA would be wise to keep this one a concept study and nothing more…the sales of those cars were dismal. The idea of a Jeep pickup is the stuff of dreams, but it’d be far more likely that FCA would use the Wrangler platform to try to pull that off. All of this is speculation though; it’s still intriguing to see that FCA is already swinging some weight with concept cars this bold.
I like FIAT’s. I really do. I’ve owned a few. I have fond memories of my Fiat’s. I’m also a Mopar guy, or at least was. I still have my older Mopars, and probably always will.
But I hate, at an almost incomparable level, the idea of rebadged Fiat’s carrying the Chrysler name.
I’ll never buy a new Chrylser product again. I do not prescribe to the notion that every car must be an amalgamation of parts from a hundred countries, or a rebranded product made by some third world emerging nation. We CAN do it here, we SHOULD do it here, for more than just a couple of niche market cars, like the ‘Vette and Viper.
First thing i thought when i saw it was it should have hotwheels style redlines on it to go with the spectraflame paint.