The hits from Fiat Chrysler's five-year plan announcement keep on comin', but they're being relatively coy about their plans for that first brand's lineup in North America. They do cop to a 500X crossover and an unknown "specialty" vehicle. Our educated guess: it's the Miata-based roadster they've been talking about forever.


The last we heard, there was some dispute over whether the small, rear-wheel drive roadster being co-developed with Mazda would go to the Alfa Romeo brand or to Fiat. Today seems to indicate it will go to Fiat.


We recently took a deep dive into a 2016 Mazda Miata mule to find what appears to be a 1.4-liter MultiAir turbo engine under its hood, so things are starting to point in the direction of Fiat instead of Alfa for that car.

Fiat's plan indicates the brand will be split in two directions: "rational," like the Panda and Punto we don't get, and "emotional," like the stylish and super-Italian 500 and 500L. The inspiration going forward will come from the Fiat 124 and the 124 Sport Coupe and Spider. Neat.


Will the Fiat roadster be called the 124 Sport? This tweet makes us think maybe:


And with the rest of their North American lineup using numeric names, I think that would be sort of cool.