Fiat Strada

The Fiat Strada is a subcompact pickup truck (B-segment) produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat since 1998. It is mainly produced in Brazil and marketed throughout Latin America, whereas the first-generation Strada was also assembled in South Africa and exported to Europe from Brazil.

Based on a unibody chassis with front-wheel drive configuration, the Strada shares its platform with several Fiat subcompact cars such as the Palio, Siena, and Uno. , the Strada is the smallest of three Fiat pickup trucks, which include the larger unibody Toro and the body-on-frame Titano.

First generation (278; 1998)
Launched in October 1998 in Brazil, the first-generation Strada is the cargo carrying derivative of the "Project 178". The Strada was made to replace the Fiat City, a pickup version of the Fiorino, a commercial derivative of the Fiat Uno. The Strada features a maximum loading capacity of 700 kg and a cargo space of 1770 mm x 1314 mm.

In Europe the Strada was launched in April 1999 with two engines: the 1.2 Fire petrol with 73 hp-metric and the 1.7 turbodiesel with 70 hp-metric.

2001 revision
In 2001, the model had its first facelift. The new design was made by the Italian design guru Giorgetto Giugiaro. The facelift included a new front and interior. The Mark II series marked the début of an extended-cab version. In 2002, Fiat do Brasil launched the first version of a Fiat Strada Adventure, with "off-road" looks.

2004 revision
The new Mark III was launched in 2004. It has a revised front and interior design taken from the Palio (and also designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro). Also, a second version of the Strada Adventure was built, with the same features of the Weekend Adventure. It was offered in Europe with the relatively modern 1.9-L JTD diesel engine.

In South Africa, the Strada is offered in four variants: 1.2 Fire MPI EL, 1.6 Torque MPI EL, 1.6 Torque MPI ELX (same as the EL but with colour-coded bumpers and mirrors, electric windows, driver's airbag, and air conditioning), and 1.7 turbo diesel EL. Fiat South Africa also introduced the X-Space model, which stretches the cab by 30 cm. This model is available in two models, the standard X-Space and the X-Space Adventure (which has similar specifications to the standard 1.6 ELX model). Both X-Space models are powered by the 1.4 Fire MPI engine.

In Europe, it is available only with the 1.3 Multijet 16V diesel engine with 85 hp-metric and Euro 4 standard emission level.

2009–2013
Unveiled in summer 2009, the all-new Mark IV model was put on sale in the end of 2009. Whilst the model shares its name with the previous Strada, a large number of its components are new, including a new bodyshell. For the rest of the South America, the new Strada was introduced in mid-2010. The design is inspired by the Fiat Grande Punto with many elements similar to the latest versions of the family Palio and Siena. The fourth-generation Strada is built in four different versions: Working, the basic version, Trekking, with more goodies, the Sporting for sportier style with aero kit body style, and the Adventure with a locking differential dedicated to off-road use. In 2010, Fiat do Brazil introduced a new double-cab version (also called Strada Cabina Dupla) with four seats, but maintaining the same wheelbase.

The engines used are the Fiat 1.4-L 16V Fire Flex (85 PS) and the 1.8-L 16-V Ecotec Flex (114 PS). For diesel, the 1.3-L 16V Multijet unit with 87 PS is also available.

The Strada was relaunched for Italy and other selected European markets in 2012.

2013–2021
At the end of 2013, Fiat unveiled the latest facelift of the Strada (as a model year 2014) based on the 2009 version. The new Strada introduced a new front fascia and new rear lights, and the double-cab version is available with the suicide-style rear doors. Three versions are sold in South America: Working, Trekking and Adventure with four different body styles.

For the 2015 model year, the Fiat Strada was rebadged by Ram Trucks for the Mexican market as the Ram 700.

In 2018, total sales of the Strada in the Brazilian market surpassed 1.4 million of units.

Second generation (281; 2020)
The second generation of the Fiat Strada (codeproject 281) was presented on June 26, 2020 in Brazil and is based on the new MC-P modular platform derived from the Fiat Argo with the front MacPherson suspension and part of the cabin taken from the Fiat Mobi model and the rear suspension taken from the Brazilian Fiat Fiorino (327). For the first time the Strada was produced in the double cab 4-door version with 5-seats.

The second generation of Strada introduce the large silver-colored Fiat front logo replacing the previous one, a small Italian flag inserted in the grid and LED light clusters. The side and tail, on the other hand, appear more classic, with the possibility of choosing between the two and four-door versions featuring a different capacity: 720 kg and 1,354 liters for the first and 650 kg and 844 liters for the second. In order to ensure maximum mobility even on rough surfaces, the raised structure allows the car to lift from the ground by 211 mm and a front angle of attack of 24 degrees. The interior reproduces some of the contents of the Fiat Uno (327) produced in Brazil, even if some secondary controls are modified. In addition to the display at the center of the instrumentation, there is also an UConnect 5 infotainment with 7-inch touchscreen, bluetooth, wireless, compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Starting on 18 November 2020, the rebadged RAM 700 saw a new generation for the Mexican market. It is offered in the SLT (regular and crew cab), Bighorn, and Laramie trim levels.

Engine
The range of engines consist in the 1.4 Fire EVO Flex 8 valve (85 HP petrol and 88 HP ethanol) of the Endurance versions and the 1.3 Firefly Flex 8 valve (101 HP petrol and 109 HP ethanol) of the Freedom, Volcano and ranch, both with the five-speed manual gearbox gears and simulated 7-speed cvt-type automatic transmission and the E-Locker traction control system. As of August 2023, the Ultra and Ranch versions will feature the new 1.0-liter gasoline/ethanol turbo engine, producing 125/130hp and 20.4 kgfm coupled to a CVT gearbox that simulates 7 gears.

Safety
The Strada has 4 airbags, electronic stability control (ESC) Ventilated Front disc brakes and drum brakes in the rear.

Latin NCAP
The Latin American Strada with airbags and ESC received 1 star from Latin NCAP in 2022 under its new protocol (similar to Euro NCAP 2014).