While the Stellantis Group plays hide-and-seek with the redesign of the 2025 Fiat Cronos, Fiat dealers in Argentina have decided to go ahead and put the cars on sale (unofficially, of course).
The restyled small B-segment sedan, manufactured in Córdoba, Argentina, will be officially unveiled in the coming weeks. But some dealerships began displaying it in their showrooms yesterday. Even Fiat’s official dealership in Buenos Aires, which, according to a notice circulating online, is displaying it solely to begin selling car subscription plans.
As is typical in this deceptive approach to selling brand new cars, there’s nothing to indicate that anyone who signs up for a plan will receive a facelifted Cronos. There’s still a chance you’ll be given a stock unit without these updates. In fact, the 2025 Cronos isn’t even officially on sale yet (although more than a few unwary buyers will take the bait).
Under this non-transparent model, the advertised price for the Cronos 1.3 GSE Drive Pack Plus version is 21,274,300 pesos (around $19,800 at current exchange rates).
All of the Changes for the 2025 Cronos
Photo by: Motor1.com
So what’s been updated in the Cronos for 2025?
Looks-wise, the car has been updated to give it a slightly more modern and innovative design. The main changes come at the front. The Cronos has received a redesigned front grille, front bumper, lower spoiler, and headlights. The most striking update is the vertical plastic inserts on both sides of the bumper, which simulate (presumably fake) air intakes for the brakes. Higer-trimmed models also get 100-percent LED lights. The top photo shows a base version with halogen headlights.
On either side you’ll see new wheel designs, while rear end features a redesigned taillights. Beyond the aesthetic changes, it’s still the same Cronos, a car that, for three consecutive years, has been the best-selling new car in Argentina, and one of the most successful sedans in Brazil.
We have yet to get our eyes on the inside, but we expect similar updates, including a reworked dashboard and a modern infotainment screen. The most important change will be in the safety department, though. After three years of painful absence, the Cronos will once again be offered with four airbags.
Not much is expected to change under the hood. We know Stellantis has considered the possibility of incorporating turbocharged engines, but all signs point to the Cronos continuing with the same naturally aspirated offerings.
For Argentina, that means a 1.3-liter, 8-valve gasoline engine making 99 horsepower and 93 pound-feet of torque, paired to either a five-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) with artificially programmed gears. Export markets such as Brazil will get the naturally aspirated 1.0-liter engine.
Martín Scrimaglia, head Fiat in Argentina, revealed over the summer the conflict Stellantis has been facing over the Cronos’ overwhelming market share in recent years.
“At the end of 2023, we had a problem at Fiat: we could stop calling ourselves Fiat and start calling ourselves Cronos without anyone noticing,” he said.
“Our dependence on that model was total, and part of the challenges over these months was to once again focus on recovering the rest of the range. However, the Cronos remained at the top of sales chart, without the need to refresh it, helping to create a profitable and positive business.”
