If it wasn’t for the Flex logo on the long line of new Unos leaving a sprawling Brazilian plant, the shiny cars would be indistinguishable from millions already on the road across Latin America. But these Unos along with eight other models (including the Palio, Siena, Idea, Strada, Stilo and Doblò) made by Fiat Auto Brazil have modified engines that, given the rising price of oil, are making Brazilians smile every time they have to fill up at the pumps.

They run on petrol, alcohol or any combination of the two and now represent over 95 percent of the new Fiat vehicles sold in Brazil. To place this in context, with Fiat’s leading 25% market share in Brazil, this translates into more than 400,000 new Flex Fiat vehicles being added to Brazil’s roads every year.

Now South Africans will shortly be getting in on the act. Biofuel or ethanol as it’s more commonly referred to, will soon become more widely available to consumers. And, when this happens, Fiat will already have dual-fuel vehicles on the road in the form of the new Uno Flex. In fact, Fiat is so proud of its pioneering achievements in the area of alternative fuels, that they produced the first Uno Flex for South Africa in unique South African flag livery especially for display at the Durban Motor Show.

This newly arrived in South Africa Uno Flex was also one of the key attractions at the 2nd African Biofuels Conference which took place from the 27th to 30th of March 2007. African Biofuels is the largest conference of its kind in Africa and attracts delegates from all over the world. The car was on display in the exhibition hall where it attracted much attention. The conference was held at Vodaworld in Midrand, South Africa.

The Fiat factory in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is currently churning out hundreds of petrol-driven Unos destined for the South African market, in time for the little un’s official launch in July. And, it won’t be long before the production line is spewing out right-hand drive Uno Flex versions as well. The model which was on display at the conference is very similar in spec to its petrol brothers.

Here is a brief rundown: Five-door body configuration; 1.2 8-valve FIRE engine (similar to the one in the current Palio) featuring multi-point fuel injection, but with Flex technology; five-speed manual transmission; 54kW power output at 5500rpm; 102Nm of torque at 2500rpm; and options fitted: alloy wheels, body kit (side skirts and front/rear spoilers), air-conditioning, electric front windows, sport cloth trim and key-operated central locking. The display car also featured customised paintwork in the form of carbon-fibre door pillar inserts, South African flag decals and a special matte-finish rear hatch. The petrol-powered Fiat Uno range in three- and five-door guise will officially debut in July this year. The Flex models will go on sale shortly thereafter.

Some commonly asked questions:

What is Biofuel? A fuel made from renewable biological sources. Biofuels include ethanol, methanol, and biodiesel. Biofuel sources include, but are not limited to: corn, soybeans, flaxseed, rapeseed, sugarcane, palm oil, raw sewage, food scraps, animal parts, and rice.

What is Ethanol? Ethanol is produced from the fermentation of sugars in carbohydrates, derived from agricultural crops like sugarcane, corn and grains, wood, or animal wastes. It has a perfume-like smell and is the same as the intoxicating component of alcoholic beverages - meaning, yes, if you drank enough of it before it was denatured, you could get drunk. That's why friends don't let friends drink ethanol and drive. Brazil produces its ethanol from sugarcane as it is a more efficient source of fermentable carbohydrates that corn. Sugarcane can also be grown and processed more effectively and efficiently.
 

Brazil has the largest sugarcane crop in the world and it is therefore also the largest producer of ethanol globally. The majority of fuelling stations in Brazil offer a choice between petrol and ethanol.

What is Flex or a Flex-fuel vehicle? Flex is derived from the word ‘flexible’, hence a Flex vehicle is one that can run alternately on two or more sources of fuel. This includes cars capable of running on petrol and ethanol mixtures, as well as cars that can run on both petrol and natural gas. It is possible to run a Flex vehicle entirely on petrol or entirely on alcohol/ethanol or with whatever percentage of petrol mixed with ethanol you happen to have in your tank. The engine management system automatically detects by means of sensors in the tank, what fuel or what fuel mixture is present and adjusts the engine settings accordingly. So, you need never worry if you get to a fuel station and it only sells one or the other fuel type. Also, there are no problems with mixing petrol and ethanol in the same tank.

Are Flex cars more expensive to build? There are some engine and assembly line changes that need to be made to Flex-fuel cars, but these aren’t complicated. In addition to other fuel hoses to cope with the differing corrosive qualities of ethanol, all Flex cars come equipped with a tiny petrol-only tank under the bonnet smaller than a windshield wiper fluid reservoir. It’s used to start the car on cold days just for a moment before automatically switching back to alcohol/ethanol or whatever is in the main tank. So yes, there will be a small price premium over the equivalent petrol version.

What effect does running your Flex vehicle with ethanol have on your engine? If anything, performance is slightly up when your vehicle is powered by ethanol. In the case of the Fiat Uno Flex 1.2, when it runs exclusively on petrol horsepower goes up from 70 to 71HP.

How does it affect maintenance? Using Brazil as the yardstick, service intervals remain exactly the same regardless of whether the car is run on petrol or ethanol.

What is the history of Biofuel in Brazil? The idea for non-petrol powered cars goes back to the 1970s fuel crisis, when Brazil’s economy nose-dived, prompting the country’s military dictatorship to launch a campaign to wean the country from expensive, imported oil. Government subsidies helped fund the design and manufacture of alcohol-only cars. They also supported a vast industry near Sao Paulo to cultivate sugarcane and refine it into alcohol, and an alcohol distribution network that spans a country nearly the size of the continental United States. Millions of Brazilians switched to the alcohol-only cars in the 1980s, but a 1989 shortage of alcohol left enraged motorists unable to fill up and drive their cars. Falling petrol prices in the 1990s added to the end of the country’s affair with alcohol-only cars. In 2003, sales of alcohol-only cars represented only 3.7 percent of new vehicle sales. But flex-fuel cars sales took off in a big way again in 2004, spurred on by the likes of Fiat and by 2006, accounted for 77.9% of all new car sales (1 430 037). In the case of Fiat, 95.5% or 444,615 of all its new car sales in 2006 were Flex-powered. Brazil will never again turn its back on alcohol. It is available countrywide and it’s appreciably cheaper than petrol – this is their fuel of choice.