For the first time in its history, a Japanese car leads the European market new registrations. It happened in January 2021, when overall market showed strong declines all over the region, according to JATO Dynamics data. This were the top 10 in January and the percentage variation compared to January 2020:
Fiat Group World 
Filipe, you don’t think os necessary for Fiat but…
1st place – Yaris
2nd – 208
3rd – Sandero
5th – Corsa
… do you really think Fiat could be out of it? No way…
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Volume does not mean profits
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Of course not Felipe but…
With the same underpinnings…the same engines… Peugeot 208 is the second best seller and Corsa the fourth. C3 sells a lot too. So why can’t fiat?
208 or Corsa are not profitable? Or even C3?
Costs will be further diluted by a new model.
Italian car market is negligible?
I don’t agree…
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Fiat can’t because it has a very bad reputation and Europeans associate it with the 500 only. It’s too late for a Punto.
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To say that it’s too late for Punto is to say that it’s too late for Fiat. The Fiat brand’s retro fixation needs to go away. Its isolated success notwithstanding, the 500 has been a disaster for Fiat, as it elicited knee-jerk responses from incompetent FGA/FCA management that every Fiat somehow had to be 500-related in order to succeed and/or command a profit. This trend needs to stop, as the 500 concept is not enough to sustain the Fiat brand. Indeed, the new 500 is nothing but a joke, with its awkward styling and its short-range, slow-charging BEV-only powertrain, which means that it will not be able to carry the Fiat brand going forward, hence the importance of non-500-related models. Enter a new Punto, which could reestablish Fiat’s presence in the marketplace. Also, a new Bravo should be launched to replace the third-world abomination that is the “Fiat Tipo” (or Tofas Egea).
It should not matter that a new Punto (or Bravo) would potentially end up as a loss-leader generating no profits. That should simply be considered the costs of doing business for the Fiat brand after a decade of negligence. And the “bad reputation” nonsense is just that – nonsense, a silly excuse to do nothing, and a de-facto death wish for Fiat. Unfortunately, it seems like Felipe is anything but a Fiat fan, as his outrageous wishes a while ago to have FCA team up with a Chinese (!!!!!!!!!!!) automaker exposed for all the world to see.
If Carlos Tavares does not greenlight a new Punto – a no-brainer if there ever was one – then he is incompetent and needs to be fired.
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Filipe, you don’t think a new Punto is necessary for Fiat but…
1st place – Yaris
2nd – 208
3rd – Sandero
5th – Corsa
… do you really think Fiat could be out of it? No way…
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Fiat not having a Punto is complete and utter madness, plain and simple. There’s no justification for it whatsoever.
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I think otherwise. Any OEM must do profits
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If the Peugeot 208 can be profitable, and the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa can be profitable, then so too can the Fiat Punto. Fiat is not a weaker brand than either of those two (or three, if you count Vauxhall), and even if it were, there’s no reason perceptions could not have been turned around with the help of competent product. (Heck, even Renault sells quite a few Clios, and Fiat is definitely a stronger brand than Renault.)
Also, Fiat’s 500 concept is not sustainable, as is the nature of any retro-based branding, hence the need for contemporary models. (Just look at Mini, a brand that cannot expect to hang around for much longer, rehashing the same models using the exact same design cues, with little or no room for market adaption.)
For Fiat to have a chance at a future, then not making a new Punto is not an option. Fiat without Punto is like Volkswagen without Golf.
Unfortunately, Felipe, you’re merely parroting the Marchionne narrative that is the very reason why the Fiat finds itself in its current situation with stale products and lineup gaps. It has been suggested that Marchionne was deliberately phasing out the Fiat brand in favour of Jeep, and it seems like that might be your point of view as well.
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Do you really think Fiat is stronger than Renault as a brand?
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Most certainly.
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Felipe thinks Renault is stronger than Fiat.
Ok, maybe it is nowadays but Renault is not for France what Fiat is/was for Italy.
I repeat myself…was Skoda a strong brand? So why did VW Invest in it? Nowadays for me it has better (not better because they are almost the same) it has more attractive products than VW. Compare ID3/4 to Enyak…
Stellantis needs to Invest in Fiat for sure but it will not start from zero. Fiat has history, the italian market, and they just have to act like Skoda…from the same base, make a more attractive product.
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