Is Fiat Simply The Wrong Company At the Wrong Time in The US?

I believe Fiat's reputation in the US has sullied its name. My cousin summed it nicely when he bought a new Fiat, and later told me, "For the first few months, it drove like a new car!"

It takes time to shake a poor reputation, but it can be done! In the 1980s, Hyundai was known as the crappy rust bucket thing. Today, they're known for being a solid value and a very respectable economy car.

Again - this is a case of a car company trying to force its European market small cars on a completely uninterested American buyer. The Americans are looking for more room - and storage space - and are moving away from the sedans that they regularly bought - BACK to the Station wagons now called SUVs - for their upright seating that allows real Americans to fit in.

While there is a small market for the 500 competing against the Mini - no smart person would equate those two as being competitors - the Fiat reputation for (lack of) reliability has not been changed. Most of the rest of the Fiat Lineup is already too old to be imported due to crash regulations- note they do not even have a platform to produce a 200 replacement for themselves. And comparing sales to last year for the mini - where they could not give them away - you can get a 50% sales increase going from 10 to 15 easily.

Add in that FCA cars regularly rate among the worst in reliability - even Jeeps, and Chryslers - and if it were not for the fact that they have a full complement of various 4x4s and Jeep is especially Hot - they would be in real trouble. THe Maserati is not supposed to sell in large numbers as an exotic - and the Alfa Giulia is still not here yet. That one will sell - although how it will rank among its competition will depend on whether it has some quality to it. AND Ferrari is not part of their FCA Mix.

ANd the biggest problem - TONY DIED - who are they going to get to fix those things now?

I do think the low cost of gas aggravates the issue. If gas was $6 a gallon, we would be saying how brilliant they were for comming over to the US

Agent009 - while I agree that low gas prices aggravated the issue - the problem is - FIAT does not have product in the compact and mid-size car market anyway - that would compete. IF gas prices had stayed high - we would be selling more compacts (Corolla/Civic/Cruze) - and more Mid/Size (Fusion/Malibu/Accord/Camry) cars - and FCA has no competing platform - the one they made for the 200 was at least a generation too old and too heavy to compete.

Fiat needs to stay focused in certain markets where owning and driving a small unique car is valued. I see tons of Fiats in my town, a town of hoity-toities who want to say, "look at me, I bought something different and cute". At the same time, we're a perfect middle ground between inner city and suburbia which is just perfect for these types of cars.

We've driven our 2013 Abarth over 25000 miles with ZERO problems. Not saying there isn't QC issues but in our experience Fiat is as solid as any other brand. We just moved to San Francisco where the 500 seems to be very very popular - which makes sense as it is a great city car. When we were in Phoenix though the Fiat was absolutely the odd duck.. And FWIW, The 500L just seems weird and not a great choice, the 500X has a bit more promise and if they made a good Abarth version it would be on the list for our next SUV - Love the 124 even though it is essentially a Miata with styling by Fiat.

FCA made a number of blunders...massive ones with the Fiat brand:

1. Being a Weak Manufacturer in Europe
I'm not a fan of VWAG--IKR you're stunned at that revelation!!--but in the European theater if you compare Fiat to VW or Ford, you instantly see that Fiat has no competitive product. Peugeot/Citroen is a smelly armpit of a company, but by comparison Fiat is a yeast infection of a brand. Were it not for Chrysler keeping the lights on at Fiat, the Chinese would have owned them by now.

2. Stand-Alone Dealers
Although FCA has backtracked on this one, Fiat should have been incorporated into Chrysler-Jeep dealers. There simply wasn't a sustainable business case for stand-alone dealers up front. Heck, Mini still struggles with being truly sustainable as a stand-alone brand and could much more efficiently been incorporated into BMW dealers.

3. Not Having a Brand Plan
It seems pretty obvious that Dodge was to die given separating out Dodge pickups as Rams, but then Sergio changed his mind. Fiat should have become the mainstream FWD entry level brand. You could argue that the 500 is their "Fiesta" but where is their "Golf"? Where is their "Corolla"? The Dart should have been a Fiat Bravo.

4. Terrible Marketing
BMW's advance marketing for Mini made it seem that a beloved automotive icon dearly treasured by Americans was returning. The reality is that the original BL Mini never sold here in significant amount or for very long and it was reviled for its lack of quality. The marketing was brilliant. Fiat stumbled with having Jennifer Lopez be the face that brought the brand back. They staggered into "the Italians are coming" and then advertising vanished.

5. Terrible Product
The 500 isn't a bad product, but the 500L and 500X are. The 500L was brought here as lot filler, but it's not cute like the 500, nor is it an especially good hatchback. The 500X should have been anything but linked with the 500 and it is a tad small.

Fiat basically has no good product...in Europe the only reason people buy Fiats (vs VW, Ford, Opel, Peugeot, Toyota etc.) is that the cars are cheaper. They have no viable product to sell in the USA, besides the 500 which tries to compete with the Mini but does not have the "coolness" of the mini brand. FCA should move the 500 into Dodge showrooms and focus on making Alfa their Italian brand in the USA.

The smart move for FCA at this point would be to convince CJD dealers to also take on Fiat, then make a deal with Mazda to rebadge the 3 as a Fiat. This would give them a competent small car to sell.

Well in Europe Fiat offers the Tipo. This is a Golf sized vehicle a for less money. The 500X is a good vehicle and should sell at least 50% of what a Jeep Renegade sells for. Perhaps if Fiat offered a larger version of the 500 X, say the new Jeep Compass size it might sell a little better. The 500L needs a restyle job and to be made in a different factory with higher quality plastics. What it has going for it is that it is roomy and it is easy to see out of. But no AWD is available and it probably should only come with the 2.4 Tiger Shark engine that's in the 500X and other Jeep models. I still think Fiat could offer a slightly DE contented 500X with lower suspension and FWD and sell it in the 16 to 17 grand range. Then you have a true Golf hatchback competitor and 7 grand less than a base Mini Clubman. The little 500 city cars problem is that it is not a 4dr. If Fiat sold it new for 12 or 13 grand in a 4dr they could probably move some decent volume of cars. Fiat's problem is a little like VW's. It's the peoples car. Therefore you have to have people prices. The problem I think is price point. At this point Fiat needs to be cheaper to buy than Jeep, the 124 should be cheaper to buy than the MX5 and the 500 City car should be cheaper to buy than a whole slew of Japanese and Korean vehicles.