Fiat Strada ute revealed

If you thought the only utes worth their salt were wore Ford, Toyota or RAM badges, think again because compact utes are also wildly popular in South America.

The Fiat Strada compact ute is one of them and much like the launch of an all-new Toyota HiLux, the new-generation Strada is making waves in Brazil.

Revealed via this official image today, the new model shows off a surprisingly butch look for such a small fry, with pumped wheel-arches, a rear sports bar and angular new face.

Compared to the dated-looking Strada available today, the new model represents a massive visual shift.

Slotting in underneath the bigger Fiat Toro ute, the Strada currently provides owners with a 700kg payload in the tray and the new model is likely to increase that slightly, given it's based on a new platform expected to be borrowed from the Fiat Argo compact car – albeit with a stretched wheelbase

In Brazil the compact utes are pitched much like Ford Rangers are in Oz; workhorses in the week and family/leisure machines on the weekend.

Fiat's Strada ute was created in 1996 and in recent times (2018 to be precise) it accumulated more than one million sales in Brazil – eclipsing every car sold in Australia from every manufacturer that year.

The Fiat Strada is cheap to buy and run, relatively reliable and favoured in major South American markets such as Brazil – where the updated model will be built.

Although precious little info on the new-look micro ute has been revealed, Fiat Brazil is expected to offer several new tech and safety features on the new model, while ditching the 1.4 and 1.6-litre engines for a newer, cleaner 1.3-litre that pumps out 100hp or 75kW.

Sadly, however, the four-door, four-seat Fiat Strada has almost no chance of coming to Australia any time soon.

The Fiat Strada has previously been sold in Europe and South Africa and the emergence of larger 're-manufactured' pick-up trucks like the RAM 1500 in Australia shows that if demand is there for niche pick-ups, supply will follow.

But Aussie tastes appear to moving towards bigger, not smaller pick-ups.

While compact utes have never really taken off in Australia, car-based pick-ups like the Subaru Brumby and Proton Jumbuck showed there was a place for these smaller utility vehicles.

There is talk that Hyundai Australia may import the US-build Santa Cruz lifestyle ute to Oz, which would be a litmus test for car-based utes in an evolving marketplace.

The new 2021 Fiat Strada will be revealed in full soon and like most self-respecting utes, the Strada will be offered in single- and dual-cab body styles.

Just don't expect a 3.5-tonne towing capacity like the Ford Ranger, with current models able to tow around 1000kg.