Having the chance to meet and inspect a totally new product is very important for us, the representatives of the motoring media.
On the other side, if this new product is created especially according to the Best Buy Car logic, than it is even more important for the AUTOBEST Jury!
FCA’s new global compact passenger car, Project Ægea, is a new product of Fiat Turkey’s factory Tofaş. It is offered with sedan/hatchback/SW body types and it will be exported to all European markets soon.
Everybody in the automotive sector wanted to have the very first information about this project, but FCA and Tofaş gave priority to the AutoBest members to see and drive this new vehicle before everybody else.
Why? Because this Ægea project is designed from “0” to have the value adjective, which is the main selection point for the AutoBest title.
Thus, the AutoBest members were invited to the Bursa Tofaş facilities on the second week of September 2015.
During the first night it was interesting to meet with the Tofaş executives at a dinner cruise on the wavy waters of Bosphorus. Many questions have been answered that night about Ægea.
But the next morning, when the AutoBest group arrived at the Tofaş factory, all the ultra-modern production line was inspected, all engineering was explained and more detailed data was stated.
Tofaş is extremely proud to bring such a modern “best buy car” to western markets. On the other side Ægea will also be a new mass product of the Fiat brand. The importance of Ægea is to increase Fiat brand’s market share everywhere again, just like it was in the previous decades.
After visiting the factory’s new Ægea production lines and driving the Ægea sedans for 100 kilometers on a route complete with curves and slopes, a long Q&A session with all top executives from Fiat and Tofaş was organized. During the Q&A, hard critiques about Ægea were addressed by the AutoBest members.
As a result, it was understood that Ægea was designed, researched and developed based on the will to win the AutoBest title.
Because all technical and marketing specifications of Ægea were directly suitable for the AutoBest’s 13 voting criterions.
But Fiat Ægea can be only one candidate among other AutoBest finalists for 2016.
Ægea may look lucky but we will see the competition.
Tofaş (Türk Otomobil Fabrikası Anonim Şirketi) is a Turkish carmaker which was established in 1968, based in Bursa, Turkey, where the manufacturing plant of the company is located. It is jointly owned by FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Koç Holding. Tofaş is the only Turkish automaker that manufactures both passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. It is one of the biggest automakers in the sector with its 6,500 employees and 400,000 vehicles annual production capacity. Tofaş manufactures for the Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall and RAM brands, which has achieved for it the “Gold Level” within the scope of the WCM-World Class Manufacturing Program that is implemented in the 175 plants within the framework of FCA. Tofaş currently produces the following Fiat models: Doblo (Combo, ProMaster City), Linea, Qubo, Florino (Bipper, Nemo).
Ægea’s official production start is scheduled for the 28th of September 2015.
Author: Okan ALTAN
PhotoCredit: Vinko Kernc
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