Fiat Palio

Fiat Palio at a glance

The Palio appears with Fiat's other models in our Fiat catalogue. Its pickup derivative has a page of its own: Fiat Strada, Brazil's best-selling compact pickup.

Palio generations from 1996 to 2020

Project 178: Fiat's world car

Fiat planned Project 178 as one small car for many emerging markets, to be built locally in each region. The body and interior were designed by the I.DE.A Institute in Turin, while the chassis was developed from the Fiat Uno, with MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam at the rear. The Weekend estate used the independent rear suspension of the Fiat Punto.

The Palio was launched in Brazil in April 1996, the Weekend in the same year, and Argentina followed in 1996. In 1997 production started in Venezuela, Poland (for Europe) and at Somaca in Casablanca, Morocco, and in 1998 in Turkey. India (in Pune with Tata, later at Ranjangaon) and South Africa, where Nissan assembled the Palio and the Strada, came in 1999, Egypt in 2001 and China, where the Palio was the first Fiat to be built, in 2001–2002.

Brazil remained the main market. Fiat sold 156,930 Palios there in 1996 and a peak of 290,820 in 1997. In Europe the car was a niche product: sales reached 52,585 in 1999 and 49,053 in 2000.

Body styles: Weekend, Siena, Albea, Strada and Adventure

From the start the Palio was planned as a family of models. The Weekend estate was the version Europe knew best, and in German-speaking countries it was the only Palio on sale, from summer 1998 to mid-2003. The Siena sedan was the notchback version, and the long-wheelbase Albea sedan was built in Turkey and other markets; China received it as the Fiat Perla. The Strada pickup shared the Palio's front end and is still built in Brazil in a later generation.

The Palio Adventure, launched in Brazil in 2001, was a raised, crossover-styled version of the Weekend estate.

Facelifts of 2000, 2004 and 2007

Giorgetto Giugiaro styled the first facelift of 2000, with new front and rear ends and a new interior. Some markets also received the Speedgear CVT automatic, and Fiat's 1.0 and 1.2 FIRE 16-valve engines arrived. Giugiaro also handled the 2004 revision, when the Brazilian Palio received four airbags. In 2004 flex-fuel engines that run on petrol or ethanol were introduced in Brazil.

The "New Palio" shown in Natal in 2007 had a new body inspired by the Grande Punto, but the chassis was still that of 1996. Engines at this stage included the 1.1 and 1.4 FIRE and, in Brazil, a 1.8 based on an Opel/GM engine with 86 kW (115 hp) on ethanol and 84 kW (112 hp) on petrol.

Second generation (Type 326, 2011–2017)

The second-generation Palio was revealed in October 2011 and went on sale in Brazil on 4 November 2011. It was a completely new five-door hatchback, sold with 1.0 and 1.4 Evo engines and a 1.6 E-Torq 16-valve with 85 kW (114 hp); the Strada and Weekend used a 1.75-litre (sold as 1.8) with 97 kW (130 hp). Brazilian sales still reached 183,741 in 2014. Assembly in Argentina ended in late 2017, after 21 years of the Palio name, and the hatchback was replaced by the Fiat Argo. The Weekend estate, renamed Fiat Weekend in 2014, stayed in production until 2020.

Engines (first generation, Europe)

In Brazil and other markets the range also included 1.0-litre FIRE engines, the 1.8 and flex-fuel versions; in China the Palio had a 1.2 with 44 kW (60 PS) and a 1.5 with 63 kW (85 PS), and in India a 1.3 Multijet diesel.

Safety ratings

In Latin NCAP's 2010 tests the Palio ELX 1.0 with two airbags reached 10.65 of 17 points for adult occupants (one star). The New Palio with two airbags scored 10.84 of 17 in 2014 and 11.34 in July 2015, and under the stricter 2016 protocol it reached 18.09 of 34 points, again one star for adults and children. A version without airbags tested in 2014 scored zero points for adult occupants. China-NCAP gave the Perla sedan three stars overall.

Photo gallery