page_title: Economy car
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Economy car / History / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: English: Fiat Uno II automobile in Kraków, Poland. Polski: Samochód Fiat Uno II w Krakowie. Wyprodukowany przez Fiat Auto Poland.
context_page_description: Economy car is a term mostly used in the United States for cars designed for low-cost purchase and operation. Typical economy cars are small, lightweight, and inexpensive to buy. Economy car designers are forced by stringent design constraints to be inventive. Many innovations in automobile design were originally developed for economy cars, such as the Ford Model T and the Austin Mini. The alternative approach, other than innovating to build a low-cost car, is to build a stripped-down, no-frills version of a conventional car.
  Gordon Murray, the Formula 1 and McLaren F1 designer, said when designing his new Murray T.25 city car: "I would say that building a car to sell for six thousand pounds and designing that for a high-volume production, where you have all the quality issues under control, is a hundred times more difficult than designing a McLaren F1, or even a racing car. It is certainly the biggest challenge I've ever had from a design point of view."
context_section_description: GM Europe (Vauxhall/Opel) introduced their first European market front-wheel-drive car, the Opel Kadett D/Vauxhall Astra, Golf-sized car in 1979 by Opel in Germany and 1980 by Vauxhall in the UK.
  In 1980, Fiat introduced the Giugiaro designed Mk 1 Fiat Panda. It was originally designed to be produced in China at its 1970s level of industrialisation. It was a utilitarian front-wheel-drive supermini with Fiat standard transverse engine and end-on gearbox. It featured mostly flat body panels and flat glass.
  Also in 1980, the all new hatchback and front wheel drive third generation Ford Escort Mark III (Europe) was launched. Previous Escorts were saloon/sedans with front engine and rear wheel drive. In 1981 Ford launched the American version of the Ford Escort.
  In 1982 GM launched their first front-wheel-drive supermini, the Opel Corsa/Vauxhall Nova in Europe.
  In 1983 Fiat launched the next step forward in small car design, the Fiat Uno. It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign. The tall, square body utilising a Kamm tail achieved a drag coefficient of 0.34, and it won much praise for an airy interior space and fuel economy. It incorporated many packaging lessons learnt from Giugiaro's 1978 Lancia Megagamma concept car, (the first modern people carrier-MPV-mini-van)—but miniaturised. Its tall car, high-seating packaging is imitated by every small car today. It showed that not just low sleek cars could be aerodynamic, but small boxy well packaged cars could be too. It was voted Car of the Year in 1984.
  Also in 1983 Peugeot launched the Pininfarina-styled Peugeot 205. While not as radical as the Uno in body design, it was also very aerodynamic. It was the first European supermini with a diesel engine - the XUD. It provided performance of a 1.4 L petrol with economy—55 miles per imperial gallon (5.1 L/100 km; 46 mpg‑US)—that was better than the base 1 L petrol version. It could, like most diesel engines, last for several hundred thousand miles with regular servicing. It was, along with the larger (also XUD powered) Citroën BX, the beginning of the start of the boom in diesel sales in Europe. The 205 GTI was as popular as the Golf GTI in Europe. The 205 was named "Car of the Decade" in the UK, by CAR magazine in 1990.
  In the US Chevrolet offered three new small economy cars in the 1980s to replace the Chevette: the Chevrolet Sprint, a three-cylinder Suzuki-built hatchback, The Chevrolet Spectrum built by Isuzu and the Chevrolet Nova built by NUMMI in California, a GM-Toyota joint venture.
caption: 1990-95 Fiat Uno Cd 0.30
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