The all-new Fiat Doblò light commercial van has broken cover, the image shown in a presentational slide, just as Fiat prepares to usher in the new model nine years after the original was launched. Tofaş, which is a 50-50 partnership between Fiat Group and Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding and which builds a range of vehicles including the Fiat Fiorino and current-generation Doblò (above), has this week reported a 126.6 million lira (US$85 million) profit for the third quarter of the year, an eight fold increase on the same period last year when profit came in at 14.5 million lira.

The new Fiat Doblò has broken cover again as it counts down to it arrival on the market, while Tofaş, the Fiat joint venture company that is developing and building it, has this week posted a eight times increase in third quarter profits. Tofaş, which is a 50-50 partnership between Fiat Group and Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding has reported a profit of 126.6 million lira (US$85 million) for the third quarter of this year, which adds up to an eight fold increase on the same period last year when profit came in at 14.5 million lira.

Tofaş has been helped by a comprehensive Turkish government stimulus package this year that has assisted the vehicle manufacturing industry as well as other leading consumer goods producers. That incentive package for the car industry ended however on September 30. For the July-to-September third quarter of this year Tofaş has also reported sales revenues up by 18 percent to 1.299 billion lira and a small increase in exports.

"The rise in sales is due almost entirely to the government's tax cuts," Cemal Demirtas, an analyst at Oyak Securities in Istanbul told the Reuters news agency on Monday after the results were announced. "There was also a slight increase in exports." He added that operating profit was 131 million lira, which gave Tofaş a margin of 10.1 percent.

Meanwhile just a fortnight after leaked photos showed pre-production prototypes of the all-new Fiat Doblò on the production lines at Bursa, the new generation light van has broken cover for the second time, this time taken from a presentational slide, as Fiat prepares to usher in the new model nine years after the original was launched. Known as Project 263, and built once again by Tofaş, it shows clear family design language cues in common with the smaller Fiat Fiorino van that was also developed and built by Tofaş as well as traditional Doblò cues in the form of an enveloping front bumper.

The outgoing Doblò model was introduced in 2001 based on a well-tested platform that was derived from the "Project 178 World Car" Fiat Palio which itself evolved from the Fiat Uno. Developed by Fiat Centro Stile and built by Tofaş in Turkey, the van provided a low cost option for consumers and proved to be a strong seller in markets across the world as well as Europe, including Brazil where it is also marketed in a beefed up off-road styled "Adventure" series version. A 5- or 7-seat passenger carrying version, called the Panorama, has also been a very popular addition to the range.

In the autumn of 2005 the Doblò received a mid lifecycle facelift with a comprehensively revised front end including new bumper, grille and headlights, plus minor cosmetic treatment to rear (including new lights) and interior; and it quickly collected the prestigious Van of the Year 2006 title. The first generation Doblò was fitted with 1.2-litre petrol and 1.9-litre diesel (including JTD) engines while for the facelift the van received a 1.4-litre petrol unit and the 1.3- and 1.9-litre 16v Multijet turbodiesels while there is also a 1.6 16v "Natural Power" version.

Project 263 has seen an investment of 370 million euros being made by Tofaş since the project got underway in October 2007. This project, just like the recently realised "Minicargo" (Fiat Fiorino/Peugeot Bipper/Citroën Nimo), has been entirely financed by Tofaş, on this occasion through a 10 year loan which has a built-in 2 year grace period. Tofaş has also taken the lead in its engineering development, as it did for the first time with the Minicargo project, with input for Fiat Centro Stile in Turin. Production is slated at 120,000 units per year with 70 percent being destined for European markets.