In the first 6 months of 2023, Fiat Sold a total of 280 cars. There are currently 357 Fiat dealerships in the US.
https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/fiat-us-sales-figures https://www.scrapehero.com/location-reports/Fiat-USA/
I bought a car from a CDJRF dealer yesterday. Quipped to the finance guy “fiats are still around?” when writing the check, inquiring about the “F” in their name.
He said they’ve sold 2 in the last 3 years.
Considering all they sold in 2023 was the ugliest crossover on the market, I’m not surprised. Didn’t help that before that, all they sold was an even uglier crossover thing, an overpriced city car, and a worse miata.
By comparison:
For 2023 MINI USA has thus far seen a 18.7% increase with 22,769 vehicles sold compared to 19,185. Leading the way was a massive increase in Countryman sales with a 71.8% increase in sales for the quarter. That’s help offset the 285 decrease in the two door hardtop and 10% drop in Clubman sales.
From Google. As a previous MINI tech, I knew the Countryman was bound to fake over the brand since the small car market went down south after people got used to $3+ per gallon of fuel.
BMW has also been smart with MINI’s positioning, pivoting the brand ethos from being small to being about alternative design, acknowledging it’ll be a niche player. I think this is hard for Fiat to wrap their heads around because they’re traditionally such a dominant brand in their markets.
For North America, in my view, Fiat would be wise to either lean into design with captive import Stellantis products (basically the DS lineup), or go all-in on cheap and cheerful by federalizing their South American products.
I mean you’re not missing out on anything particularly cool lol
Agreed. The 124 and 500 are niche, but they’re cool for people in that niche. Sub-compact crossovers are not nearly as niche, and the 500X doesn’t really have any charm to it. The only real differentiator is the Italian styling, and it’s proportions are too big for the 500 styling elements integrated into it.
I do really like the 124, but I don’t think they’re still making it unfortunately. The 500L is incredibly ugly imho, and the 500x is just meh
They’ll need to not be routinely near the bottom of reliability.
I would positively fuck up a new 500e assuming it came in below 30k. I currently spend more money on gas per month than a lease or even purchasing with charging and it seems like the perfect commuter runabout.
Don’t tell anyone but you can buy one in honestly really good shape for ~$7,000.
At least for now.
Yeah I’m seriously considering it
They’re an absolute riot and I haven’t had any problems after 3y/35k mi of abuse. Zero maintenance outside tires and wiper blades.
I remember reading a very funny interview where a Fiat dealer told the interviewer that selling Fiats was the worst business decision he ever made:
There was a time when FCA was begging every dealer in their network to carry Fiat, and if you did, you got the license for free! You just had to pay for the Fiat sign.
In 4 years his dealership didn’t even sell enough Fiats where the total gross profit exceeded the cost of the sign
So selling Fiats is as bad a financial decision as buying one. That’s funny
Pretty much the microeconomic definition of a market that must eventually cease to exist.
Fiat is a sign selling company with some cars on the side/s
I don’t understand the desperation of trying to make Fiat ‘work’.
It just isn’t. It’s not a brand us Americans really care for and their product lineup is not competitive. It doesn’t take a genius business person to know when to cut their loss and move on. I’d stop allocating any resources to Fiat and put it towards Jeep/Ram/Dodge, yenno, brands that actually sell.
It’s also garbage…which is why no one wants it.
this so much, coming from an italian. stellantis management has been incredibly bad and dont even think they are doing any better here. current lineup is just bad even for euro standards
stellantis leadership will sink that boat
It’s main problem for Fiat, not all Stellantis members. Ram and Jeep are very competitive in the market.
all the euro stellantis brands are suffering the US brands are keeping that ship afloat
I can’t wait for the day they finally kill Peugeot and Citroen. Fucking ugly ass garbage
The Fiat 500 seems like it would be right up my alley if I only had any faith in the reliability of Fiats
something, something,
Fix
It
Again
Tony
My man, you have a 2008 Subaru, there’s nothing a 500 can do to surprise you on that front.
They are fairly reliable, I’ve seen few with 25k miles.
Tons of old fiat cars in Italy with a lot of kms
The 1.4 and 1.4T Multiair are very reliable engines. Just look around and you’ll still see a ton of 500s driving around despite not being sold for years now. The 500e was by and large reliable too. Lack of faith in Fiat is based mostly on outdated and just incorrect speculation.
I dunno, I work on cars for a living and ive only worked on one fiat 500 in my life and it kept coming back over and over again for different issues. The customer finally gave up on it when the axle seals failed again causing the manual transmission to gernade.
Fiat sucks.
They were so bad in the 70s/ early 80s that they chose to exit North America rather than fix their shit.
They have not improved much.
Not surprising when they only sell one model of car.
And it’s ancient at this point.
Not only one model, they only sell small model. Even though 500X is a crossover, it isn’t a large enough for most American buyers.
I know most people in this sub, r/cars hating large truck so much, but that’s what America car market. Small crossover doesn’t really sell well in America, and most American buyers just wants large vehicles.
They took the “one GM” model and took it to the absolute extreme.
“hey let’s offer a tiny car as the only available model in a market with relatively cheap gas and an obsession for massive cars!”
The fiat 500 is actually surprisingly popular on college campuses. I assume that’s a big chunk of their demo.
My friends had a term called the “fiat fakeout” which is when you see an empty parking spot in the garage but it’s actually occupied by a 500
It is not much larger to American eyes, but after just getting back from Italy, I cannot understand why they brought the 500 instead of the Panda, which is their most popular car there as well. It is big enough to not seem like a gag and the Panda 4x4 is much cooler IMO.
Different vehicle classes have different tariffs. It’s why the Subaru Brat was sold with jumper seats in the back, so the import tariffs were the same as a passenger car instead of a small pickup. The US also has a requirement for any car sold to be crash tested here and to meet certain standards. In other countries the car companies are allowed to sell more freely.
On the other hand, I thought the Panda was supposed to be sold here
Bigger margins on the 500, and under the skin the US/Canada market 500 is rather different from the RoW 500. The lower margins probably make adapting it to the US regulatory environment uneconomical. VW never bothered federalising the larger and higher priced Polo for that reason.
The other issue is it’s basically a reskinned Jeep Renegade. And it’s much easier to find a Jeep dealer, buy Jeep parts, and get support compared to a Fiat. There isn’t really a point in buying a Fiat. What made them unique was the 500. Not a volume seller but that drew people to the brand. I would’ve brought one if they still made them. There’s so many better options in the CUV segment.
I like the green color
I thought Fiat left the US in 2020?!
Fiat 500 was the only decent vehicle they had, but they didn’t do any real updates since 2012 and while it was great with the 5-speed manual nobody drives manuals anymore and the slushbox was sad. The 500X was just a less practical Jeep Renegade, one of the least reliable and overpriced vehicles in the segment. The Spider could have been cool, but it didn’t really do anything better than the Miata version, especially after Miata got an updated powertrain whereas the Spider never got the updated 1.3T (a shame, as the update was decent).
Whyd they stop selling the 500 abarth? Anecdotally I feel like I see a good amount on the road.