This does not sound good: https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/03/news/companies/fiat-us-sales-future/index.html
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: 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?
http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/alfa-romeo/alfa-romeo-4c/ . . . And yet only 7.3% of them have been 4c's. Doesn't seem good for the mid-engined sports car 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?"
FCA US, helped by stronger results at Jeep and Ram, posted an 8 percent increase. Volume rose 19 percent at Jeep, 6 percent at Ram and 9 percent at Dodge, while deliveries skidded 32 percent at Chrysler and 36 percent at Fiat. FCA said U.S. retail sales totaled 155,208 last month -- its best June since 2004. Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/new-car-sales-june-2018-winners-and-losers#ixzz5KULoCwDf
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.
Speculation... All of the car companies are changing strategies, including eliminating from their line. Between tariffs and rising oil prices everyone is trying to figure out their plan. The other speculation is that Hyundai is about to buy FCA... https://www.drivespark.com/four-whe...-acquire-fca-along-with-jeep-fiat-025948.html
I love my 200C...of course a great car that they decided to stop production on....... 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......
