Fiat USA again on the ropes?

[VAS]

John, let me guess... you then headed to Bennigans for lunch.

[stuartrubin]

And I personally had a very poor experience with some sales people. I was at the Car Show in Cleveland, OH. (I don't usually go, but there was a professional event there.) There were exactly TWO cars I wanted to see. One was the Alfa Romeo Spider, which for some reason was not on the show floor. The other was the FIAT Spider, which WAS on the floor. For some reason, that car was off-limits! You could look, but you could not touch it, get in, etc. I mean, we're talking about a $25K vehicle. There were $100K cars there where the salesmen were happy to let you get in and play with! So, there also seems to be an attitude problem. You've got a Mazda Miata (MX5) pretending to be a classic Italian sports car, and a sales team who thinks that the "riff raff" at the car show aren't good enough to sit in it.

[RRoller123]

They were never serious about the effort here, it is too bad, they are really fun little cars. And that is likely the problem, big cars with lots of gizmos, computers, cameras and that other carp that I could care less about are in vogue, and efficient little sporty boxes like those FIAT did so well are not really in vogue. But they are seared in our memory banks. The Brava, 132, 124, X1/9, all of them here in the states were fun little econoboxes. I mean, look at the Camry and others like it today, Holy Moly have times changed. Personally, I think it is really too bad. We used to have an ethic of doing as much as possible with as little as possible (Swamp Yankee I be?), and it was a matter of pride to have a cool little sporty car that got great mileage. (relative to the days of course).

[johndemar]

John, let me guess... you then headed to Bennigans for lunch.

Actually lunch was at the Italian American Club in Phoenix, but not before a spirited run to Bartlett Lake. Traffic was light and azruss and I had a blast driving through the canyon curves.

[baltobernie]

From Bloomberg June 1, 2018
"... Under the [new five-year] plan, the company is considering ending sales of Fiat cars in North America..."

Not hard to see why. Here are their US sales (units)



I suspect Sergio would like to get his house in order before retiring next year.

[Nanonevol]

We used to have an ethic of doing as much as possible with as little as possible (Swamp Yankee I be?), and it was a matter of pride to have a cool little sporty car that got great mileage. (relative to the days of course).

Also a Yankee. My Dad, who could afford any car he wanted and had a long commute also had efficient (he was an engineer) little cars like Saabs and Hondas. He bought the first generation Prius.
I remember when SUV's first came out there was much disdain for them - Suburban Assault Vehicle - now they are every car (nearly).

[RRoller123]

We used to turn our noses up at people with AC, because we got better mileage without it... I also remember turning the fresh air vents (free AC) to point downwards, so the particulate matter would not hit us in the face. LOL.

[samakijoe]

I just came across this topic today so if this has been covered well OK.

The thing I have noticed in driving around is that the number of Minis compared to the Fiat 500 is striking. I would guess there are about 50 Minis to each 500 seen on the roads.

I have been driving Minis (and Alfas and 124s) for a number of years and when the 500 was announced (before going on sale) I was looking forward to seeing more Fiats and dealers around. I had high hopes. But after seeing the 500 for the first time I knew they had gone down the wrong road. (A short phone call and I would have set them back on the right road and not charged them too much.)

A short time after going on sale I noticed that a few of the larger car rental agencies had them in stock. I made a point of asking the drivers what they thought of the 500. All seemed to really like it. It looks like it was a fun car to drive on vacation but not one to put in the garage after you get home. The great deal the rental agencies got was a good marketing idea, just not a good enough product to gain market share. I don't know if it's just that these guys don't understand the American market or they think that their only market is Europe/Asia.

[DropTopTees]

If they want to succeed, they simply need to advertise. When is the last time you saw an ad in the regional or national media for the 124? I have had so many people ask me what my car is, I have lost count. People won't buy what they don't even know exists.

[TX82FIAT]

I agree that FIAT needs to advertise. When the 500 first came out, the spicy Italian lady ads were trendy catching peoples eyes. But that is not the real issue. Buyers are eventually informed and make good decisions. I'm afraid the quality issues have really hurt the brand again. You can pick up a used 2013 500 abarth with under 70K for under $7,000.00. The 500L might be the biggest car flop in years. They rolled out the new spider as a Fiata? Worldwide FIAT sales in 2018 697,977, Sales in 2009 1,010,342, 1999 1,109,513, 1990 1,339,953. So they have re-entered the US market where they were not in 1990. Yet, they are selling 1/2 the cars per year now compared to 30 years ago. Alpha Romeo has re-entered the market with success. New Fiats have repeatedly re-entered the service/repair shop at relatively low miles with amazing success. They sell cars every day that even Chrysler would reject through quality control measures.

[lanciahf]

Fake news?
I keep telling my 2013 500 pop that you are supposed to be unreliable... Oops there goes my wife on her daily 110 mile commute. I offered to buy her a bigger car since she is on the highway for most of her commute. She flatly said NO.

Hell I even take it on long trips.

So people who don't own these cars say they are unreliable??? Please stop.

Thanks for listening to my uniformed unbiased opinion.

PS the car has a hard 130,000 worth of unforgiving PA turnpike miles.

[TX82FIAT]

lanciahf, I think you got a good one. A trouble free car is something to be thankful for. The view of a cars reliability is very different today then it was years ago. I'm not sure any of my four kids ranging from 16 to 24 have in their lifetime been in a car that has broken down with one exception. Back in 09 before starting work on the 82 Spider the car broke down during a shakedown drive and my son and I pushed her the 1/4 mile home. I know of many Fiat enthusiast that have purchased the 500's and enjoy them greatly. Out of the many people I know that have purchased these cars (approx. 20), eight of them have had issues with one of them having problems at 3000 miles. By todays standards, that will not work in the US market. The other 12 that have had no issues swear by their cars.

[SteinOnkel]

"Fiat is sort of like that partner or spouse you really need to give up, but you just don't want to because they're just so sexy."

That's a fact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5vrpTPj5Vk