Fiat 500, ventes USA décevantes

[Salsa]

The Fiat 500: Fewer than 16,000 sales through October
Larry P. Vellequette
Automotive News -- November 21, 2011 - 12:01 am ET


Chrysler Group is sharply outperforming the market this year, has charted a healthy course to profitability and has paid back its government loans.

But the small, peppy Fiat 500 hasn't kept the same pace.

The Italian subcompact is well behind the 50,000-unit annual target once envisioned by Sergio Marchionne, the Chrysler-Fiat boss. Since sales began in March, only 15,826 were sold through October.

And last month 29 of Fiat's 130 U.S. stores didn't sell a single one.

Internal Chrysler Group documents obtained by Automotive News show that, based on current selling rates, Fiat had roughly a half-year supply of Fiat 500 coupes and convertibles on Nov. 1. That's 13,730 units, almost as many as have been sold since March.

In an effort to get things moving, Fiat began offering a $500 cash rebate this month.

But the move comes too late to stave off production cutbacks. This month, because of slack demand, Chrysler laid off or reassigned 65 workers who build the engine for the Fiat 500 in Dundee, Mich.

Multiple sources say Chrysler may reassign Laura Soave, a former marketing executive with both Ford and Volkswagen, who became head of the Fiat brand in North America in March 2010.

Asked last week whether Soave would remain head of the brand in North America, Marchionne said: "For the time being."

The launch of the 500 was a key part of Marchionne's plan to reintroduce the Fiat brand to North America and give Chrysler Group a subcompact.

When Marchionne took over Chrysler Group in 2009, the smallest, most fuel-efficient vehicles the domestic automaker had were the compact "triplets" -- the Jeep Compass and Patriot and Dodge Caliber, none of which got more than 30 mpg on the highway, and all of which sold poorly.

Chrysler hired Jennifer Lopez to pitch the 500 in a series of national TV commercials and asked dealers to build expensive separate showrooms to reintroduce Fiat in North America.


So what's the problem?

Are sales slow because U.S. drivers don't want a car that small, or because Fiat has been too slow in rolling out its dealerships?

Marchionne doesn't blame the car. Some dealers do.

"The distribution network is probably half a year late," Marchionne told reporters last week on the sidelines of a Chrysler event in Toledo, Ohio. "We need to continue to work on distribution."

Marchionne said Chrysler had "50 dealers or 60 dealers" for most of 2011. "I think Ferrari has more dealers than that," he said.

Marchionne said the company underestimated the time it would take dealers to finish work on their stores.



Major investments

Instead of allowing existing Chrysler Group dealers to open Fiat sections in their showrooms, Fiat required the dealers to sign separate franchise agreements and eventually open separate facilities, which can cost as much as $3 million.

Most Fiat dealers also have Chrysler dealerships. They could build temporary facilities in their existing stores but were required to erect separate, permanent stores by the end of 2012.

Chrysler said last week that it had achieved its goal to open 130 Fiat stores this year.

But dealers who have made major investments in new showrooms say the biggest sales obstacles are the 500's petite size and less-petite price.

The base Fiat 500 sells for $16,000, including shipping.

"We have customers that feel the car is really cute, and they wanted to see it, but they say they wouldn't buy a car that small," said David Rovny, general sales manager at Reedman-Toll Fiat in Langhorne, Pa. "People are expecting the car to be less expensive because of the size."

Some dealers sold as few as 49 cars from March through October, while others sold as many as 370, according to Fiat's Final Daily Sales Report for Nov. 1.

Olivier Francois, the Frenchman and former Chrysler brand chief who recently became global head of the Fiat brand, said a comparison of days supply is unfair with a new brand.

"A brand in the launch phase is not the same as a brand that has been around for 85 years," Francois said on the sidelines of the Los Angeles Auto Show, where Fiat unveiled the North American version of the Fiat 500 Abarth, a high-performance version of the two-door subcompact. The Abarth features a turbocharged 160-hp version of the 1.4-liter engine built in Dundee.

Sales of the 500 peaked at 3,106 units in August and fell below 2,000 in October. Francois attributes the fluctuation to the "seasonality" of the brand.

And sales of similar-sized cars aren't booming either. Through October, Mini sold 33,760 Coopers in the United States, down 12 percent from the same period of 2010. Sales of the Honda Fit are up 12 percent to 50,790 units.

Of the 130 Fiat stores in operation, 101 reported sales in October. Those 130 stores averaged 15 sales per franchise, according to the internal report, while Mini's 97 dealers averaged 56 sales per franchise and Honda's 1,034 dealers each averaged 3 sales of the tiny Fit.


Not enough marketing

Some dealers say Fiat was slow to give them marketing support to make customers aware of the car. This summer Fiat responded by increasing its advertising presence with a couple of TV spots, including one featuring Lopez, and beefing up its marketing and dealership teams with a couple of veteran Chrysler managers.

"I don't think we have a car problem; people love the car," Francois said in an interview with Advertising Age. "I think we have an awareness problem."

Dealer Rovny sold 57 units of the 500 from March through October. He said the 500 has generated sufficient interest among consumers, but perhaps not in the demographic that Chrysler targeted.

"We're finding a lot of the more established customers are buying them as third vehicles in the household, as opposed to the students and young people that Chrysler initially targeted," Rovny said. Reedman-Toll holds franchises for all Chrysler Group brands, as well as Chevrolet, Lincoln, Mazda, Subaru, and Jaguar, with the franchises side by side.

The Fiat 500's strongest markets are in California and the Southeast, according to the internal report. Dealers in the Midwest, from Ohio to Colorado, are experiencing the slowest sales rates, selling about 13 vehicles each in October, compared with dealers in California, who averaged almost 29 sales in October.

Although sales are well below Marchionne's original targets, Reid Bigland, Chrysler's lead U.S. sales executive, said the Fiat brand is helping Chrysler.

"Between Canada and the United States, we've sold close to 20,000 Fiats," he said. "Although maybe it's not a home run, it's very close to it -- a solid triple from my perspective. It's a product that has zero cannibalization of any other Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep or Ram product. It's purely incremental and has been a decent profit contributor to the sales organization. It depends on whether you look at the cup as half empty or half full. To me it's half full."



Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/2011112 ... /311219964" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;<meta name=#ixzz1eMKdciuM

[Alain31]

Beau placement de produit hier aux AMA, J-Lo dans une Fiat 500 sur scène! Belle tentative de vendre ça aux américains!!

[mazzzda]

pas surprenant, a part le look cet auto nest pas compétitive du tout face aux autres sous compacte

[PT TURBO]

En plein ça ! Y a une méchante beurrée de gens qui ne fonctionnent que par le look ou ce qui est «in» ou à la mode. Juste à voir la popularité d'un Justin Bieber ou de Pénétration Double...

[hyksos]

C'est un char de fille, comme la mini pis la new beetle, ils doivent donc arrêter d'essayer de vendre ça aux mâles alpha, ils en veulent pas et en voudront jamais, faite des pub din salon de coiffure, salon d'esthétique, bar gai etc... elle est la la vrai clientèle potentiel.

[Imprez]

Fiat n'ont pas une réputation de fiabilité à tout casser dans le monde de l'automobile et pour leur retour en Amérique du Nord ils sont associés ( depuis le rachat ) à Chrysler qui bat de l'aile vs ses compétiteurs Nord-Américains... ce n'est pas la situation rêvée pour percer le marché.

Ajoutez à cela le fait que leur premier produit est une micro-voiture dans un marché qui peine à accepter les sous-compactes, alors imaginez les citadines / micro-voitures...

[Nova 3 GT]

a 28 000$ pour un sub-compact, je trouve que c'est un peu dispendieux! Pour 1200$ de plus, je me payerai un Speed3

[blackeyes]

C'est plus 16-17k pour un 500, a moin que tu le loads au max. Mais c'est encore un peu cher, autour de 13K de base serais pas pire. Pour la fiabilité je n'ai rien entendu de négatif encore.

[Imprez]

Ils ( Fiat ) s'attaquent plus à la Mini qu'aux sous-compactes abordables, il est aussi là le problème.

La Mini de base est bien établie dans sa niche de marché, BMW savent qu'ils ne vendront pas 200 000 véhicules par année aux USA i.e mais le produit est connu et accepté... la Fiat 500 a du chemin à faire avant de changer la perception du publique et de se tailler une place dans ce marché déjà restreint.

Pis pour une Mini John Cooper Works à 37 000$ - 38 000$ c'est très cher mais t'as de quoi entre les mains. T'as une exclusivité, de la performance, de la tenue de route, etc etc etc... Si jamais Fiat qu'à importer une Abarth digne de ce nom ils devront bien faire leurs devoirs.