The Fiat Duna (Type 155) is a small

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

produced by

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, where it was sold as Fiat Prêmio. Launched in 1985 in Brazil, the Duna/Prêmio is based on the Brazilian

Fiat Uno 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 un ...

, but unlike the Uno, it was a two-door sedan. The range was expanded with a three-door estate in 1987 called the Fiat Elba (or Duna Weekend), a four-door sedan added in 1987 and a five-door estate in 1989. The car was sold mainly in South America. Production ended in 2000 and the Duna and Elba models were replaced by the

Fiat Siena The Fiat Siena is a subcompact car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat from 1996 to 2022. It is the four-door sedan version of the Fiat Palio, a supermini car especially designed for developing countries. It was introduced for the first ...

and the

Fiat Palio Weekend Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

. The Duna was the best-selling car in Argentina between the years 1990 and 1995.

Brazil

In Brazil, the Prêmio was presented in late 1985. In 1987, the Elba three-door estate model was released with a 1.5L engine to replace the old Fiat Panorama, based in the

Fiat 147 The Fiat 147 was a three-door hatchback subcompact car produced by Fiat in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais from autumn 1976 until 1987, when it was replaced by the Fiat Uno. It was the Brazilian variant of the Fiat 127. Some were also built ...

. In 1988 a four-door sedan was added and in 1989, the Elba estate with five doors. Fiat produced the Duna and Prêmio in the Brazilian factory of

Betim Betim is a town in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is located at around . The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitan of Belo Horizonte (BH) and to the microregion of Belo Horizonte. It is the fifth largest city in Minas Gerais and one of the 50 larg ...

from 1985 to 1995. The sedan and estate were sold in Italy as the Duna and Duna Weekend from 1987 to 1991. They continued to be sold in Italy until 1997, but with Innocenti badging.

Argentina

the four-door Duna was released in 1987, and from 1990 was the best-selling car in the market for almost six years. It was commonly used as a taxi, predominantly with compressed natural gas (CNG) conversions. Fiat produced the Duna and Duna Weekend in the

Sevel Sevel S.p.A. (acronym of "Società Europea Veicoli Leggeri" - "Société Européenne de Véhicules Légers" (''European Light Vehicle Company'')) is an Italian automotive company which produces light commercial vehicles. It was first established ...

factory in El Palomar until 2000 with a total of 257,559 units built there. The Duna was not sold in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. On July 1989, the Duna established 17 South American records of 25,000 km on the Rafaela speedway, after driving for a total time of 170 hours, 44 minutes at an average speed of 148,4 km/h (91 mph). The vehicles chosen for the test were three Duna SCV with a 1.5-litre engine with 60 kW (82PS; 81 hp).

Innocenti Elba

The Innocenti Elba was a rebadged version of the Fiat Elba estate. It replaced the Fiat Duna Weekend in 1991 for the Italian market, and continued to be offered until 1997. It was the last car to be sold under the

Innocenti Innocenti () was an Italian machinery works, originally established by Ferdinando Innocenti in 1920. Over the years, they produced Lambretta scooters as well as a range of automobiles, mainly of British Leyland origins. The brand was retired in 1 ...

marque. In 1990 Fiat had acquired the remains of the Innocenti concern and for a few years they pursued a strategy of importing basic Fiat models from low cost non-Italian Fiat subsidiaries, and badging them as Innocentis in order to differentiate them from the company's Italian-built Fiat badged cars.

Commercial variants

A panel version of the three-door estate was sold as the Fiat Penny. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand, a right-hand drive model was marketed as the "Fiat Citivan". This version usually had a 1116 cc inline-four engine. Made only in Brazil, the panel van was never available in the home market in order to avoid internal competition from the Fiorino. Thanks to the Fiorino's available pick-up body, it was better suited to local market preferences.

References

{{Fiat Duna Cars introduced in 1985 1990s cars 2000s cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles Cars of Brazil Cars of Argentina