Among the automotive trends of the 1990s was the widespread return of the coupe, with major manufacturers keen to join what was fast becoming a burgeoning sector of the market once again.
While the hot hatch was the biggest news of the ’80s, there was increased demand during the following decade for low-slung alternatives offering a touch more style.
Few of the newcomers of the ’90s, however, boasted such a distinctive look as the logically named Fiat Coupe. With its wedge profile, dramatic wheelarch ‘slashes’, bubble-top headlamps and race-type filler cap, the new-for-1994 Italian offering (on sale in the UK from ’95) was like nothing else in its class, all thanks to the vivid imagination of one Chris Bangle. Inside too, the Fiat looked dramatically different from the competition thanks to its colour-coded painted metal dashboard – a major departure from the norm back then.
Available in both 16-valve normally aspirated and turbocharged guises, the Fiat Coupe had the performance to go with its looks. But it was with the debut of the 20-valve five-cylinder models
