Now it's the Punto Evo

Fiat's Punto will become the second car to employ the company's high-tech, low-emission MultiAir petrol engine when it debuts at this month's Frankfurt Motor Show.

The Punto Evo -- as the second-generation Grande Punto will be called -- will follow Alfa Romeo's MiTo with the innovative new engine, which uses a revolutionary system to tightly control air flow through the cylinders.

The 1.4-litre MultiAir petrol engine -- which Fiat claims will take a 10 per cent slice off both fuel consumption and emissions -- will star on the Frankfurt show stand, overshadowing the evolution version of the big-selling 1.3-litre MultiJet turbo-diesel that will also be available in the latest Punto.

The new technology, which essentially comprises a redesigned cylinder head that can fit on top of any engine block, will be backed up by Fiat's Start&Stop, a system that automatically shuts off the engine at traffic lights and switches it back on at the first twitch of the throttle.

Conceived and developed in-house at Fiat's Powertrain Technologies think-tank, the MultiAir system dispenses with a traditional throttle, managing the air flow with tremendous precision.

The system, which will eventually spread throughout every Fiat Group engine, lifts the Punto Evo's engine power by around 10 per cent, ups torque by 15 per cent and, at the same time, reduces fuel consumption by around 10 per cent. CO2 emissions are lowered by about the same amount.

But other, more immediately dangerous emissions are sliced even more. Fiat claims its MultiAir cylinder head will pull the Punto Evo's particulate emissions down 40 per cent and its NOx emissions down 60 per cent.

The new engine will go on sale in Europe in October, but won’t arrive in Australia until early 2010.

While the MultiAir petrol engine is the show highlight, the Punto Evo's diesel uses the latest version of the common-rail diesel engine (also designed by Fiat Powertrain Technologies and now used across the car industry) which offsets modest economy improvements with a 30 per cent lowering of NOx emissions.

The Punto's safety has also been improved, with seven airbags (including a knee bag for the driver) standard across the range. The Punto Evo will also have a hill-holder, adaptive cornering lights and the usual array of electronic stability assistance systems.

While the front and rear have been restyled -- increasing overall length to 4060mm -- the Punto Evo sits on the same wheelbase and is the same height and width as the Grande Punto.

Inside, the in-house styling department has given the Punto a complete makeover with new seats, new instruments and a new dashboard. But the star of the interior show is the Blue&Me-TomTom. The system, which was developed with TomTom and Microsoft, lets the driver operate the navigation, information and telephone systems with a simple-to-use colour touch-screen.

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