A standard-issue Fiat Tipo has completed an amazing journey of 41,000 kilometres – the same distance as the earth’s circumference. The epic 133-day road trip took in 22 countries and 122 cities, with journalist Okan Altan in the driving seat.
Prior to setting off on 13 August 2016 directly from the Tofaş plant in Bursa, one of the most innovative industrial sites in the world as testified by its World Class Manufacturing gold medal, the Tipo did not undergo any additional technical preparations for its long round-the-world trip.
The first stages of the world tour were in Europe – from Turkey, the red Italian saloon travelled through Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before entering Russia. Here, the indefatigable car and driver followed the road that runs alongside the world’s most famous railway, the Trans-Siberian, travelling 11 hours a day for eight days in total, without any signs of flagging.
The journey then continued in Japan, where the car was greeted with rapturous enthusiasm by locals, before reaching Yokohama where it boarded a ship bound for Mexico.
Such a remarkable adventure would not be complete without a mishap, which happened when a bureaucratic error forced Mr Altan to wait 11 days before entering the North American country. The journey then continued with a 40-day boat trip across the 6000km expanse of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Mexico from the UK.
After disembarking on the coast of England, the Tipo subsequently crossed 14 different European countries, including The Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
The Fiat Tipo World Tour ended with the return home of the car and its intrepid driver, whose 400 hours behind the wheel enabled him to appreciate the Tipo’s reliability and comfort on different surfaces, including the most treacherous roads, and in the most adverse climates and weather conditions.
The feat was achieved not through any specific preparation of the car, but thanks to the high standards of the Tipo project, which involved a team of over 2000 engineers and specialists for more than three years and clocked up nearly nine million kilometres of test-driving in the most extreme conditions and latitudes.
The result is a reliable, high-quality model and the effective realisation of a formula based on personality, simplicity and functionality combined with unbeatable value – these are the characteristics that have sealed the success of the Tipo family. The car is currently available in the four-door saloon, five-door hatchback and station wagon versions with petrol, diesel and LPG engines, plus manual and automatic transmission.
In short, it’s an exceptional, full-range offer, focused on value for money, the key element in the strategy of the Fiat functional family, as summed up by the slogan “You don’t need much to get a lot”. 
Read our comparison test of Fiat 500, MINI One and Volkswagen Beetle.
