Uh oh, here we go again (?)

Last I heard, Chrysler was going the way of the dodo. Marchionne was supposedly going to hold an investors meeting in May or June outlining the shutting down of Chrysler and pulling Fiat out of the USA.

Seems like they’re focusing more on Jeep and Ram trucks. Makes sense. Ford is getting rid of a lot of their small passenger cars in favor for SUVs and trucks. That’s all we see on the road nowadays anyway.
 
Here is the opening paragraph:
Hardly anyone in America wants to buy a Fiat.
Fiat's US sales are down 44% this year. The brand has sold just a third as many cars in 2018 as it did during the first six months of 2014, Fiat's recent high-water mark. Americans bought far more Alfa Romeos than Fiats this year.

We bought more Alfa Romeos than Fiats this year? That just doesn't seem possible, but it is. There are numbers at the WSJ site that back up the statement Alfa has 4 high priced cars. Just seems weird. I guess there was a pent up demand for Alfas in the high end consumer market?
 
I don't think any of the auto companies anticipated the shift from passenger cars to crossovers/utes. Trying to predict what the consumer will want in 2-4 years (the lead time for designing a car) is probably as difficult as picking the winning PowerBall number.

But FIAT's impending demise in the USA CANNOT be blamed on a fickle consumer, it lies squarely in FIAT's lap. They left due to quality issues, and if that's why you left, you better damn well have your quality issues fixed if you decide to come back. They did not. They also showed up with a one trick pony (the 500) that was long in the tooth when it got here (originally sold in 2007) and had nothing else in the showrooms for YEARS. And incidentally, up until a year or two ago, those had to be dedicated FIAT showrooms, imposing huge costs on dealers.

The question is not "Are they going?," the question should be "How did they last so long?" or maybe, "What made them think the same old-same old would not have the same old result?"
 
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Fiat needs some new models. That’s all. And remember, some of RAM’s product line are actually Fiats. I say sell them at the Fiat dealer! Ducato and Doblo.

To retreat from the US market would be a mistake.
 
Last I heard, Chrysler was going the way of the dodo. Marchionne was supposedly going to hold an investors meeting in May or June outlining the shutting down of Chrysler and pulling Fiat out of the USA.

Seems like they’re focusing more on Jeep and Ram trucks. Makes sense. Ford is getting rid of a lot of their small passenger cars in favor for SUVs and trucks. That’s all we see on the road nowadays anyway.

:(

I love my 200C...of course a great car that they decided to stop production on.......

0709180729_resized.jpg Just went on vacation......almost 900 miles, maybe 2/3d of it highway (at 70+MPH) ....and with the thirsty V6 and AWD still got over 31MPG for the trip overall......
 
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