  Models based on the extended $SU(3)_{C}\times SU(3)_{L}\times U(1)_{X}$ (331)
gauge group usually follow a common pattern: two families of left-handed quarks
are placed in anti-triplet representations of the $SU(3)_{L}$ group; the
remaining quark family, as well as the left-handed leptons, are assigned to
triplets (or vice-versa). In this work we present a flipped 331 model where
this scheme is reversed: all three quarks families are in the same
representation and it is the lepton families which are discriminated by the
gauge symmetry. We discuss fermion masses and mixing, as well as $Z'$
interactions, in a minimal model implementing this idea.
