2014 Fiat FCC4 Concept Deserves A Double Take

IF YOU dismiss this car as another stylized concept, I urge you to look again. A premium brand based in, say, south-east Germany could do a lot worse than the sculptural surfaces of Fiat's new pick-up. Penned in South America, it would not be too great a stretch to call the FCC4 the most conceptually advanced pick-up-cum-ute yet.

Why all this fuss? Because if you doubled it in size and plonked it in the States with an electric engine and Chrysler badge, you would draw the attention of Ram fans and F150-ers who daren’t touch a four-door. This is not to be sniffed at. Audi and Tesla would never do a vehicle so utilitarian in concept: it jars with their concept of premiumness. Yet this is a market worth $70 billion per annum! If only there were a way to court these wrinkled dollars without losing face…

Enter troubled Fiat, creating a pick-up with a dramatic sealed deck and teardrop glass canopy that sweeps through free-standing pillars. You could call it a ute in profile, but step closer and this is family fast-back in execution: this car has no intention of visiting a construction site. It is a clever mix; an ambiguous figure, if you will. That is, an illustration that changes its identity according to how it is viewed. It is a hard thing to execute. When you see a conventional sedan from 100 yards, it remains a sedan at 10 yards: at the same distances, the Fiat changes from pick-up to hatchback.

Whichever way you look at the FCC4, one thing is for certain: Fiat’s future in South America looks assured.