The Fiat Bravo will be commercialised with the brand new 150bhp 1.4 T-Jet engine from May, with the 120 bhp option of the same unit arriving in September, while automatic transmission options will be rolled out in 2008; these are some of the new details about the forthcoming Fiat Bravo revealed this week by the project's Chief Engineer Gianfranco Romeo in the run up to the new C-segment hatchback's official launch on 29th January.

Gianfranco Romeo is the experienced engineering leader of Project 198, the working title given by Fiat to the new Bravo project; which will replace the outgoing Stilo in the showrooms from the beginning of next month. The Bravo project was developed in just 18 months - a new record for the Italian carmaker - involving major "virtual" simulated development of the new model, which was carried out in conjunction with leading Austrian engineering concern Magna-Steyr.

The Fiat Chief Engineer, who has overseen this ground breaking new programme, was talking this week to the official Fiat Bravo online 'Blog', Quelli Che Bravo, this which is busy building up to the launch of the new car later this month by steadily revealing background information about the project just as anticipation of its market arrival is rapidly building up.
 

The Bravo will arrive in the Italian showrooms next month with the option of a 90 bhp 1.4 litre petrol unit or the 1.9 litre Multijet in 120 or 150 bhp guises. Three months after the launch, the brand new 1.4 litre Turbo petrol engine range, designated T-Jet, will become available, firstly with 150 bhp, and then from the autumn with 120 bhp.

Romeo also added that automatic transmission options would be added to the range next year. The engineering boss was also keen to stress the innovations made to the suspension (McPherson struts feature at the front) to give the car more sporty pretensions. Revised suspension components feature at the rear with new rubberised coatings will be used to offer more optimum travel characteristics, while an increase in the overall stiffness to improve the car's performance - he says - will not compromise the ride features. At the front of the Bravo the engineers have paid close attention to improving the feel of the steering, in particular increasing the angle of castor to achieve their aims.

The Bravo includes foglights-with-cornering, a system which in curves automatically switches on the foglight corresponding to the inside of the curve, a feature that Romeo believes will prove an indispensable safety addition. Several other major car makers are currently also introducing this new type of technology.

Romeo also discusses the Cassino factory where the Bravo is being built, and the all-round upgrade in facilities that has been rolled out, where everything, except the actual chassis lines has been replaced. The first prototype Bravo cars were built on the actual lines - a first for Fiat - while the final production versions are now rolling down the lines. On the Bravo door assembly lines a new laser welding procedure, Romeo reckons, will guarantee optimal performance while he also believes that the plant will set a new benchmark in automation processes and the overall workplace ergonomics.