Fiat replaces its US head due to poor sales

Not all of it was her fault. 50,000 cars in it's first yr was a ridiculous projection on Marchione's part.Mini, which has 4 times as many models hit 33,000 by the end of October. Where Suave failed was in the marketing and underestimating the difficulty in getting the dealers up and running. For most of the yr the dealership count was 60. Also J-lo was a mistake.It implies the 500 is a "Chick" car.

Really? As if anyone could sell the Fiat 500? When will auto exec's learn that no one in the US cares what car sells well in Europe?

Guess Fiat is starting to realize that the last thing americans want is another small microcar.

Well Fiat felt that Mini forged the way. Thing is Mini has a lot more model divercity.Mini also never marketed the car to women. They were alsways stressing it's driving characteristics. Fiat needs to do somthing similar. "Girlyman" advertizing simply will not work.If it were me I would make a few small changes to the car and a new direction in marketing.
1st-I would tighten up the suspension on the car about 10%.
2nd-I would either add direct injection or increase displacement to 1.6 for about 15 to 20 more horspower.
3rd-I would get rid of the "lounge" model. It's too expensive.
4th-I would reduce the price of the base car by $500 to $750.
5th-Starting with the Abarth I would stress the racing and rallying success and would filter this down to all models.
You have to be able to show that a 500 is different then a Toyota IQ or a Smart.It maybe small but it offers a unique driving experience with a bonus of great gas mileage.If someone does a movie with a current 500 that would also be good P/R.

What , does a movie with it and how will they call it ? Dead end....

Its incredible to me someone green lighted such a huge "all in" nation-wide investment instead of picking a few test markets to see if this thing would ever sell here.

I drove by a dealer here in SD and the lot was packed with new cars. But I have YET to see one on the road.

The J-Lo ad campaign was and continues to be a disaster. They should have pushed a nostalgia campaign showing scenes of the original 500, interlaced with the new. Pictures of owners of the original 500 (like Michael Schumacher) posing with the new one should be plastered everywhere. Instead Soave approved an ad campaign that showed the car with a confused high priced ho driving around a ghetto. <pshewww> She deserves to have been sacked...good riddance...

I think most of us agree that the marketing of this car frankly sucked!Fiat should simply take the play book from Mini and market this car as a drivers car.There is a lot of A class competition out there now that was not there when Mini started in 2002.The 500 has a few advantages over the Mini-slightly more rear interior space and a smoother ride on poor road surfaces. I can attest to the Mini rougher ride. I have an 06 Cooper S. I ended up switching out the runflats and got an emergancy spare tire. It rides better but it still gives you plenty of head toss on rough roads.The Fiat is supposed to have a nicer sounding engine then the base Mini as well. Further it's handling is supposed to be pretty good with some publications rating it's steering feel better then the Mini. Fiat could do a few tweeks to the base car in terms of slightly tightening up the handling and also improving it's horspower. They could go to DI along with Multiair,improve it's breathing with a more aggressive intake and exhaust. The Abarth should help matters provided it is priced correctly.I would say starting price should be 21 to 22 grand.Also why does Fiat need 3 different base models. I seriously doubt that the Lounge model is even selling. Fiat should just offer a base model with a sport option or optional leather etc.But the marketing really has to step up with it's implied fun to drive nature. You can't boast of it's interior room or it's gas mileage per say. Fiat has to talk about it's sportiness.