Fiat returning to U.S., looking to open Florida dealerships
Fiat is looking for about 300 existing Chrysler dealers willing to commit to selling Fiat, and as many as 30 in Florida
August 5, 2010
Italian automaker Fiat is looking to open as many as many as 30 dealerships in Florida, perhaps as early as December, as part of the company's takeover of a bankrupt Chrysler in June of 2009.
That move will give Fiat an opportunity to take care of some unfinished business in the U.S. marketplace – a second chance at selling its own products here, after failing to succeed in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Fiat's last unofficial presence in the American marketplace was in 1992 – one the company would like to forget -- when Yugo pulled out. The Yugo was based on an already-dated Fiat 128 platform, but built in Yugoslavia by Zastava, not Fiat.
Fiat is looking for about 300 existing Chrysler dealers willing to commit to selling Fiat, especially in larger metropolitan areas. A source at Chrysler speculated that Florida could get as many as 30 Fiat dealerships – perhaps 10 percent of the national total.
Bring it on, say Chrysler dealers – but with some reservations. Herb Yardley of Massey Yardley Chrysler Jeep in Plantation said he is "enthusiastic, but I want to hear more information." So does Pete Grinnell, an owner of Napleton Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Kissimmee. "I need to understand what level of commitment would be required," he said, "and I'd like a timetable for the products they are bringing in."
Fiat will reveal much of that information to prospective dealers later this month, but the company is insisting that dealers build a separate facility to use as a Fiat showroom, perhaps an optimistic request in a period of sagging car sales. Fiat wants a separate, trained sales staff – the company doesn't want Fiats mixed in with Dodges and Jeeps and Chryslers, marketed like just another car on the showroom floor. It must be, Fiat says, a distinct brand.
As far as the inventory, the first model sold here as a Fiat in nearly 30 years will be the little 500, a Mini Cooper competitor that will be built in Toluca, Mexico, where the just-discontinued Chrysler PT Cruiser was built. Power will come from a 1.4-liter, 100-horsepower four-cylinder engine that will be built in a modern Chrysler plant in Michigan. A convertible version is expected to arrive as a 2012 model, followed soon by an electric version, then a small four-door sedan.
Larger Fiat vehicles could eventually be available -- such as a variation on the company's current Doblo van, as well as Lancia and Alfa-Romeo products, as those brands are beneath the Fiat umbrella, as are Ferrari and Maserati.
One of the problems Fiat must overcome is the memory of the company's last sales venture here. Most of its products were fun to drive, like the 124 convertible and the tiny mid-engine X1-9, but they were prone to rust, complicated and often expensive to repair, leading to the quip that Fiat stood for "Fix It Again, Tony."
No longer, said Jesse Toprak, chief analyst for TrueCar, a California-based auto information service. "Fiat is a dominant brand in Europe, and in many other countries," he said. "Anyone fearful that Fiat's return to the U.S. will be another Yugo-like fiasco has it wrong. In fact, I think it's a real opportunity for the Chrysler dealers selected to sell the brand. I see nothing but positives."
Many of them are ready. "We are in the business to sell cars, and Fiat makes a product that would complement the vehicles we already sell from Chrysler," said Jorge Haimovich, general manager of University Dodge in Davie. "We definitely want to know more."
Interested, but slightly less eager, is Mike Smith, whose family owns Orlando Dodge. Chrysler is already requesting upgrades to existing dealer facilities, including a comparatively modest eight-piece furniture set for the showroom that costs each dealer $62,000. "If they want me to spend upwards of $300,000 on a separate sales facility for Fiat," Smith said, "I'd like to hear some more details."
Eventually, though, even Chrysler dealers who don't sign on to sell the Fiat brand will almost certainly be selling Fiat products. The current Dodge Caliber, Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring will likely be replaced in the next five years by Fiat-designed vehicles, while Dodge and Chrysler will likely be left to handle the design and manufacture of trucks, sport-utes, larger minivans and larger Jeep products.
"Fiat is a very well-respected manufacturer most everywhere except in the U.S.," Toprak said. The new Fiats, he said, "are nothing like the ones sold here before."
Fiat has teamed with Faithless to create a video to promote its Punto Evo vehicle. Yea, a music video promoting a car. Never heard of that before. But it's actually not bad. We like. And we're told there will be future collaborations between the artist and the car maker.
Oddly, the song makes us think of King Missile's Detachable Penis. no idea why. It just does.
Perfect Pair? Alfa Romeos Could Join Fiats in U.S. Showrooms
August 24, 2010
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Although the little Fiat 500 won't go on sale until the end of 2010, Chrysler began the tedious process of building a dealer network for the brand here in North America. Although those showrooms will sell and service the 500 at the outset, it also seems they will carry Alfa Romeo brand vehicles as well whenever they show up here in the U.S.
A Chrysler spokesman had previously indicated that Fiat's North American dealers may handle the Alfa line in the U.S., but it now seems more likely than ever, according to Chrysler Group and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.
"It's more than likely that Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands will be sold in the same [showrooms]," Marchionne told Automotive News at a recent event at Chrysler's Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.
200 Chrysler dealerships to sell Alfa Romeo by late 2012
Aug 25th 2010
Fiat is a few months away from awarding 200 Fiat-branded retail outlets to select Chrysler dealers. The first vehicle those new stores will sell will be the Fiat 500, and there won't be any Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep-branded models in sight. But that doesn't mean Fiat will have those dealerships to themselves for very long.
According to Automotive News, company CEO Sergio Marchionne announced at an event in Toledo, Ohio that those Fiat stores will also sell Alfa Romeo vehicles by late 2012. Marchionne has already announced that the first Alfa to hit North American shores will be the Giulia sedan and wagon, followed at some point by a midsize SUV, a subcompact, a hatchback and even a roadster. That's a lot of Alfa, and the Italian automaker will need all of those models to be at least moderately successful if it has any shot at reaching its lofty goal of 500,000 Alfa Romeo sales by 2014.
Before we get to 2012 and the return of Alfa Romeo on our shores, we need to get a clearer picture of what Fiat's plans are for the U.S. AN reports that the Fiat forecast will clear up soon, as the Turin, Italy-based automaker plans to educate Chrysler dealers during an August 30th briefing.
Ferrari said it is recalling more than 1,240 of its 458 Italia supercars to replace an adhesive prone to melting after five reports of fire accidents.
Ferrari launched an investigation last month after media reports of fire accidents involving five vehicles in California, Paris, Switzerland, China and one other unnamed location.
A company spokesman said the problem was related to an adhesive used in the wheel-arch assemblies that in certain circumstances due to overheating can melt and eventually ignite.
As a result, Ferrari, owned by Italy's carmaker Fiat (FIA.MI), will be asking the owners of 1,248 cars produced before July 2010 to bring them in to have the glue replaced with mechanical fasteners, the spokesman said.
Those owners who had their cars damaged by fire will receive a new model, the spokesman said.
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“We are delighted to unveil this new website,” says Gerry Clarke, director, Fiat Professional. “As the brand continues to grow, we are expecting more customers to visit us, so it’s right that we have a clearer, easier-to-use website that everyone can enjoy and obtain good use from.”
September 16, 2010 Fiat Shareholders Approve Plans to Separate Businesses
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PARIS — Fiat Group gained approval from shareholders on Thursday for its plan to spin off its industrial business from its automotive unit, which the Italian company hopes will lead the stock market to view the two halves more positively than it has the whole.
“The demerger of the group and the creation of two separate entities will finally solve a strategic issue that has for years been a thorn in the side of Fiat,” Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat chief executive, told shareholders at a general meeting in Milan.
He noted that investors had long speculated about the potential value that could be realized from splitting up the company, and said it no longer made sense to keep under one roof what, on the automotive side, is essentially a retailin business with what is, on the industrial side, essentially a capital goods business.
Mr. Marchionne, who also runs Chrysler after Fiat acquired a 20 percent stake in the U.S. company last year, told investors that Chrysler, currently unlisted, could return to the stock market through an initial public offering by the end of next year. He said Fiat hoped to raise its stake in Chrysler to 35 percent by then.
Fiat’s deal with the United States, worked out when Chrysler was in bankruptcy, gives it the right to raise its Chrysler stake to 51 percent, subject to meeting certain performance targets.
Fiat, controlled by the Agnelli family, had said in April that it would spin off Fiat Industrial, which includes Iveco trucks, CNH Global agricultural machinery, and Fiat Powertrain Industrial and Marine activities.
Fiat Industrial will operate independently, with its own management and board of directors, and will be listed separately next year on the Milan bourse.
The automobile business includes the Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati car brands, as well as Magneti Marelli and Teksid auto parts, Comau robotics and FPT Powertrain Technologies.
“The capital goods component has been undervalued within the group,” Gabriele Gambarova, an auto analyst at Banca Akros in Milan, said. “The car business is more of a long-term play.”
The market sees the industrial business as more valuable for now because research and development costs in the business are low and profit margins are high, he said, meaning the return on invested capital is higher.
In the car business, excepting some Japanese and German automakers, “destruction of value is more or less the rule,” he said, as “returns are lower than the cost of capital.”
Michael Tyndall, an auto specialist at Nomura International in London, said capital goods companies tended to trade at one or more times sales, while European automakers tended to trade at only 15 percent to 40 percent of sales — a strong incentive to split the group.
“These are different kinds of businesses with different capital needs and also different possibilities in terms of alliances,” Mr. Tyndall said. The move could help Fiat to prepare for an outright combination with Chrysler, he said, but any such effort would be “quite a ways” into the future.
Nonetheless, Mr. Gambarova said Chrysler was “part of the solution” to Fiat’s troubles, as the American company would help it reap economies of scale and bring access to some overseas markets where the Italians are weak.
On the small-van front Ward’s reports that Fiat may bring its compact Doblo to North America. The Italian automaker had initially been discouraged by sales of the Transit Connect in the U.S., which had been running at about 130-day’s supply, but is now down to 59 days. That’s because sales of the Transit Connect jumped 76 percent last month. Ford’s Jim Farley tells Autoline Daily that they’re not discounting or even advertising the Transit Connect. It just started to catch on in the American market. So now Fiat is thinking of bringing over the Doblo. But it will take at least two years and $100 million to get it to meet U.S. safety and emissions regulations.
Fiat plans to sell the 2011 Chrysler 200 as Lancia in Europe, except in the UK and Ireland. In the UK and Ireland, the 200 will be sold as Chrysler, said Automotive News Europe. In Europe, the Chrysler 200 is expected to compete with cars like the Ford Mondeo, Volkswagen Passat and the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia.
Expected to hit US shores later this year, the 2011 Chrysler 200 will come equipped with a 2.4L in-line 4-cylinder World Gas Engine that is mated to either a 4-speed or 6-speed automatic transmission. The top-of-the-line model will come equipped with the new Pentastar V6 engine that generates up to 283-hp and 260 lb-ft, and comes mated standard to a 6-speed automatic.
Earlier this week, Chrysler released the first photos of the 2011 Chrysler 200 sedan, a vehicle designed to replace the Chrysler Sebring. The new sedan was first unveiled in Orlando, Florida.
The 2011 Chrysler 200 will be built at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan and will arrive in dealerships later this year. The new sedan’s exterior and sheet metal upgrades includes, front and rear fascias and fenders, grille featuring the new Chrysler brand winged badge, hood, rear decklid and exterior mirrors, new projector headlamps and fog lamps, new LED taillamps and a LED centre high-mounted stop light.
Fiat Takes the Technobest Award for the Second Year Running!
SLOUGH, UNITED KINGDOM – October 18, 2010: For the second year running, Fiat Powertrain Technologies, the engine and transmission development and production division of the Fiat Group, has been awarded the prestigious international Technobest prize, with the 2010 honour going to the new Fiat TwinAir twin-cylinder engine, following last year’s award for MultiAir technology.
The Technobest 2010 prize was awarded by the international, independent Autobest jury made up of 15 specialist journalists from a number of countries whose populations together make up 300 million people: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Turkey and Ukraine.
Autobest was founded in 2000, and in the Automotive sector is considered among Europe’s most important automobile juries.
When it communicated the prize, the Autobest jury acknowledged the absolute technological innovation of the new TwinAir, which by taking the concept of downsizing to an extreme, thanks to innovative technology of electro-hydraulic control of the engine inlet valves, (MultiAir), has made it possible to achieve outstanding efficiency and minimal consumption.
The 85 hp turbo version of the new family of TwinAir engines made its official debut at this year’s Geneva International Motor Show. Its distinctive features are its compact size and cutting edge technology, which enables the engine to set new efficiency standards, with consumption that is the lowest in its class, confirming the Fiat Group’s leadership in this sector.
The TwinAir boasts a number of particularly sophisticated technological features, normally only found in higher engine classes. Two examples are the electro-hydraulic control of the inlet valves, (MultiAir), which is installed on all TwinAir engines, and the timing chain which drastically cuts engine running costs because it does not need any maintenance. A balancing countershaft also guarantees that vibrational comfort is maintained in all operating conditions.
Depending on the version (normally aspirated, turbocharged and bi-fuel CNG), the TwinAir can deliver from 65 to 105 bhp. The top-of-the-range versions in particular, stand out for their excellent specific power and torque figures, delivered with a cylinder capacity of just 875 cc.
Because of its extremely small size, the new TwinAir engine is ideally suited to being coupled with an electric engine, producing a hybrid propulsion unit that is particularly suitable for use in town. It maximises the advantages of hybrid propulsion by making it possible to store and recover the energy normally dissipated during frequent deceleration and braking.
The 85bhp TwinAir engine now becoming available in the new Fiat 500, produces CO2 emissions of just 92 g/km with the version with MTA Dualogic gearbox, the lowest offered today in the petrol engine market.
The 2010 Technobest Prize is further confirmation of the attention that the Fiat Group and Fiat Powertrain Technologies focus on respect for the environment, and their consequent and continuous commitment to the reduction of polluting emissions.
Fiat Automobiles has again demonstrated its environmental credentials after registering the lowest average CO2 emissions for cars sold in Europe in the first half of 2010. The figure of 123.5 g/km was corroborated by leading automotive adviser, JATO, and is one of a succession of landmark results dating back to 2007.
Fiat Group Automobiles also remains in first place in the classification by company, with a value of 126.2 g/km, which underlines yet again its technological leadership in terms of environmental sustainability.
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