The Fiat Tipo (Type 160) is a compact car, designed by the I.DE.A Institute design house, and produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1988 and 1995. The Tipo was initially available only as a five-door hatchback. The car was made entirely out of galvanized body panels to avoid rust, and was built on a completely new Fiat platform, which was later also used in Alfa Romeo and Lancia models. It also stood out because of its boxy styling that gave it innovative levels of packaging, rear passenger room being greater than that in a rear wheel drive Ford Sierra, but in a car that was of a similar size to the smaller Ford Escort. This type of design was comparable to the smaller Fiat Uno, which was launched five years before the Tipo. In 1989, the Tipo won the European Car of the Year award and the 1989 Semperit Irish Car of the Year in Ireland. The car was extremely popular in Brazil where it outsold the Volkswagen Gol, which had been the best selling Brazilian car for more than twenty years. Only the Tipo, the Fiat Uno Mille, and Fiat Palio have ever outsold the Gol as well.