Fiat does not build many cars like the Fiat Uno: a 3/5-door hatchback / 3-door panel van with Petrol engine, built from 1983 to 2021 in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Its designer of record is Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign.
Where it came from
The Fiat Uno is a supermini manufactured and marketed by Fiat. Launched in 1983, the Uno was produced over a single generation (with an intermediate facelift, 1989) in three and five-door hatchback body styles until 1995 in Europe and until 1 January 2014 in Brazil.
Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, the Uno strongly recalled the high-roof, up-right packaging of Giugiaro's 1978 Lancia Megagamma concept, in a smaller configuration. With over 8,800,000 built, it is the eighth most produced automobile platform in history, after the Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Model T, Fiat 124, 1965–1970 GM B platform, 1981–1997 GM J platform, 1961–1964 GM B platform, and 1977–1990 GM B platform. The Uno name was reintroduced in 2010 in South America for the Fiat Mini (Economy) platform based car built in Brazil.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 711 -. The gearbox is a 4- or 5-speed manual transmission / manual / Selecta Continuously variable transmission / CVT. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2362 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Fiat's history is not in doubt: the Fiat 127 came before it; the Fiat Punto followed it; it was built at Fiat Mirafiori. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Honda Civic, the Peugeot 205, the Toyota 4Runner. Nearby in the Fiat catalogue sit the FIAT 702 and the Fiat 1.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Fiat Uno has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.