Fiat Duna, the failed heir–and Massimo Boldi behind the wheel

Failed Heir

The Fiat Duna was intended to become the heir to the 128, one of the most iconic cars in the history of the Turin automaker, but it was belied by the facts, so much so that it was taken off the market after only four years.

South American production

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The compact sedan was born on the Fiat 146 platform, the same as the Uno, and was produced in Argentina, in the Palomar plant, and in Brazil (where it had the name Premio), in the Betim plant. The three-box version landed in Italy on January 23, 1987, and was available only in CSL (Comfort Super Lusso) trim.

Pity numbers

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In Italy, 55,600 were imported and sold in 1987, 24,870 in 1988, 9,280 in 1989, and even fewer (4,810) between 1990 and 1991, for a total of 91,560 examples. Its station wagon version (called Weekend) was left on the list for a few more years.

A car for… cinema

In the funny movie ‘Fratelli d’Italia’, Milan super-fan Massimo Boldi owns a gray Fiat Duna.