Franco Miniero, on behalf of Fiat Professional, receives the "Van of the Year 2009" award for the Fiat Fiorino from Carsten Teiner, Vice Chairman of the International Jury (2008). The Fiat Fiorino has been named the International Van of the Year 2009 – with 112 points out of a possible 140 – by a jury consisting of journalists from 20 European countries, specialists in the commercial vehicles sector.

The Fiat Fiorino has been named the International Van of the Year 2009 – with 112 points out of a possible 140 – by a jury consisting of journalists from 20 European countries, specialists in the commercial vehicles sector. The prestigious trophy was awarded to Franco Miniero, the managing director of Fiat Professional, during the ceremony at the Fair which is the venue for the 62nd International Show in Hanover, the biggest exhibition in Europe of commercial and industrial vehicles.

The award gives recognition to the many important novelties on the Fiat Fiorino, a unique vehicle in its genre, created to meet the needs of those who require a compact van which is cheap to run, nimble in traffic and handy in parking manoeuvres.

The new Fiorino is intended to completely redefine the standards of the 1B segment and play a leading role in the market of light commercial vehicles. The jury of the International Van of the Year particularly appreciated the fact that the Fiorino is creating a new market segment. Over the last few decades, light commercial vehicles have evolved in their load capacity (volume and total kerb weight), leaving a gap at the lower end of the range.

Thanks to Fiorino, the customers of this band of the market have the opportunity to buy a vehicle “made-to-measure” for their work and activities: with a load-carrying capacity of 610 and 660 kg, volume of 2.5 cubic metres, internal length of 1.5 metres (which become 2.8 m3 and 2.5 metres with the passenger seat folded down), the Fiorino fully meets these requirements.

According to the jury, the new Fiat Fiorino is a truly innovative product in terms of dimensions, style, safety content and environmental friendliness. This van is generally of first-rate design, very practical and excellent value for money; its economical features meet the jury’s most important criterion of merit, i.e. the capacity of a vehicle to offer an efficient contribution to goods transport by road.

Born out of the industrial collaboration between Fiat Group Automobiles and PSA, the original commercial vehicle is manufactured at the Tofas factory in Bursa (Turkey) and is sold in about 80 countries of the world. Distinguished by an original and dynamic style, the Fiat Fiorino is 3.86 metres long, 1.72 high and 1.71 wide: compact external dimensions with which any city centre can be negotiated with ease, also helped by a turning circle of just 9.95 metres.

Fiat Fiorino offers a complete range of variants and features: vans for goods transport; Combi for mixed transport of people and objects; “Adventure” versions with raised body and shortly also with a special drive system for use in rural areas and on low-grip ground; robotised 6-speed gearbox; and safety devices which are innovative for the category, such as ESP and speed limiter. Fiat Fiorino will subsequently also be available with electric drive and compressed natural gas (CNG) engine.

Safe and reliable, the Fiorino also offers excellent dynamic behaviour whatever the use or type of journey. This is achieved by the two power units – the 73 bhp 1.4 petrol and the 75 bhp 1.3 Multijet turbodiesel (also available with anti-particle filter) – which are a pleasure to drive, reliable and environmentally friendly and also offer very low running costs (consumption and maintenance). In particular, the 1.3 Multijet permits a range of 1,000 km on one full tank of diesel (4.5 l/100 km for the combined cycle), and has CO2 emissions of only 119 g/km, the best-in-class value in the segment. The oil change frequencies for both engines are 30,000 km (or 24 months). The layout of the individual engine components has been designed to significantly reduce the time required for maintenance or repair interventions.

The prestigious International Van of the Year 2009 award thus confirms the great appreciation given to the new Fiorino among European customers and the promise to “reach places where other’s can’t” – as claimed in the commercial. In fact since its launch (last December) until mid-September of this year, Fiorino has achieved a total of 28,000 orders for van and Combi versions.