Fiat Freemont to Debut at the Geneva Motor Show

Last year, Fiat surprised everyone when they decided to take control of the drifting Chrysler and everyone was anxious to see what will come out of this partnership. And here we have one of the first results, the newly announced Fiat Freemont which will make its world debut in March, at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland.

What we have here is basically a rebadged Dodge Journey and Fiat seems to be very proud of the car, the press release calling it " a 'factotum vehicle' designed to meet the diverse needs of families and those seeking a spacious, comfortable and versatile vehicle to cater for the frenetic pace of everyday life or weekend leisure time." On the exterior, while Fiat claims the car will have its own, original style, compared to its American sibling, the Fiat Freemont only features modified bumpers, a new grille and LED taillights.

However, not all is bad, because some of Dodge Journey's features "borrowed" by the Freemont are pretty good, like the large interior space possible due to the large wheelbase and the 7-seat displacement (with the third row being very accessible through the 90-degree opening doors and also being very easy to fold and create extra luggage space). Overall, being a family car, the maximum luggage space is 1461 liters which is not bad at all for its class. Fiat will also fit the Freemont with a new child booster system which make sure children are sitting correctly by optimizing the seatbelt geometry. And speaking of safety, the new Freemont will have all the modern safety features, including 7 airbags, ABS with Brake Assist, ESP with Hill-Holder and Electronic Roll Mitigation.

According to Fiat, the Freemont will be available in two trim levels. Both version will feature triple-zone automatic climate control, keyless entry, 7 seats, tire pressure monitoring, trip computer, touchscreen radio, fog lights and steering wheel mounted controls. Besides these option, the top of the range version will feature 17-inch alloy wheels, Bluetooth, rear parking sensors, touchscreen radio with an 8.4-inch display, automatic headlights activation and fold-down mirrors.

Under the bonnet, the Fiat Freemont will be offered with two turbo diesel engines, one delivering 140 hp and the other 170 hp, both available with a manual transmission. Fiat is also planning two more engine options, a 170 hp 2.0 MultiJet and a 276 hp 3.6-liter V6, both mated to an automatic transmission and four-wheel drive, but these models will be introduced later on.

The new Fiat Freemont will be produced at the Toluca Mexican plant, where the Fiat 500 is also being built and sales are scheduled to start in the second half of 2011.