Fiat’s new Punto: Who needs hybrids?

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A quick tour of the specifications for Fiat’s new Punto, which provides the platform for the upcoming Fiat 500L, reveals a pretty amazing little car.

Larger than the Cinquecento, the Punto is about the same size as Volkswagen’s latest Beetle. Fiat offers ten different gasoline and diesel engines for the Punto, but there’s one engine particularly worthy of attention: the 875 cc (53.4 cubic inch) TwinAir that was named International Engine of the Year in 2011.

Of a size more often associated with motorcycles, the TwinAir is an inline turbocharged two-cylinder engine that puts out 85 horsepower at 5500 rpm and 107 foot-pounds of torque at 2000 rpm. Working through a six-speed manual transmission, the tiny engine can propel the 2400-pound car to a top speed of 107 miles per hour. Getting there may take some time, however; 0-62 takes a leisurely 12.7 seconds, faster than a Smart ForTwo but about a second slower than a Honda Fit.

However, while it’s buzzing its way up to speed, the Punto TwinAir gets 48 miles per gallon in city driving; 61 miles per gallon on the highway for a combined rating of 56 miles per gallon. That’s within 5 city miles per gallon of the Toyota Prius C, the highest-rated non-plug-in hybrid. On the highway and in combined driving cycles, the Punto beats the Prius which gets just 48 miles per gallon on the highway and 50 miles per gallon combined. The Punto TwinAir also beats the Prius in greenhouse gas emissions: the Prius pumps out 173 gm of carbon dioxide per mile; the Punto produces just 159 grams per mile. The TwinAir also meets Euro 5 emission requirements.

All that for about $15,300 in Europe. The Punto isn’t coming to the U.S.

While hybrids still get all the press, it’s becoming clear to many in the industry that the venerable Otto cycle engine still has a lot to offer while engineers and scientists work on a truly viable transportation solution for the years ahead.