07/11/2012 by Felipe - 9 Comments

Lancia is not dead

As fast as Fiat released its results for 2012 and plans for coming years, a rumor became that big that anyone could tell that Marchionne himself confirmed it during the conference call. Specialized press and a lot of Italians were saying that Lancia was finally dead. What really happened in that presentation regarding Lancia must be closely analized because the truth is that the brand will continue to exist with a different approach. Yes, in Europe’s plans for coming years, Lancia was the only brand to have one all-new model, while the other brands of the group were plenty of them. Even Maserati is expected to have more new cars in the next 3 years. Lancia plans to introduce one new model in 2013 and then in 2015. Nowadays its range is composed by one Italian made car, the Delta, one coming from Poland, the Ypsilon, and 3 Americans: Thema, Voyager and Flavia. In 2013 the Delta will die along with the Bravo, and its successor is expected to come from USA and will soon presented in Detroit as the Chrysler 100 (January 2013). Then, in this scenario Lancia will not produce anymore its cars in Italy, at least for the next 3 years. And that’s why so many people say the brand is dead. Lancia is 100% Italian but soon will not offer any 100% Italian product, so the ‘made in Italy’ feature will not be part of the brand anymore. Certainly is not what all Lancistas want as they still think of rallye times in which Lancia was more known for its victories in the race than for its sales registrations. Times have changed and European scenario has forced a lot of car makers to change also if they want to survive. That’s the case of Lancia as part of Fiat Group.

Both brands sold around 400.000 cars worldwide. Certainly Lancia is a clear winner with Chrysler brand merge.

By the time Fiat bought the majority of Chrysler, Lancia and Alfa Romeo were struggling to survive with their battle against Germans and French. They still need a lot of effort to become profitable. Alfa Romeo has already big plans as it will be focused on American market, but Lancia is more local and has lost a big market share in the last decade. Those brands thinking local will disappear and Lancia is a high valuable brand to let that happen. It is why its future is merged to another great brand so they both can survive. Lancia’s future is Chrysler’s future, and they will both join their forces to create a unique company with two names and two markets. Some people would say that the original Lancia is dead. But personally I think Lancia has finally become global and important in terms of volume. It may not have the spirit it used to have 50 years ago, but its future does not depend anymore on Italian clients. It has found a big partner to develop its products and gain more market share in Europe. With Chrysler both brands will jointly create and develop new cars not only for America (as it happens now with the Lancia Thema, which is a 100% Chrysler) but thinking also of European requirements. Of course, an Italian brand with no products made in Italy is not the best thing, but in the globalized world, the origin of the products is not as important as it was before. For example, Lamborghini is an Italian brand owned by Germans, and I think it makes it more German than Italian. What really matters is the way the cars are created and of course Italians will continue to own the company and it means it will have at the end the Italian touch. Long life to Lancia.

06/11/2012 by Felipe - 0 comments

When politics and cars are related

Is not common to hear about politics in a car blog. But America’s political campaign for presidency is so intense that even car industry is part of it. Barack Obama was elected president for the period 2009-2013 and during his first year in office he had to deal with the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler. To many jobs were pending on his decision of helping them through government loans or just doing nothing. By that time European car market was showing its first signs of crisis and Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s CEO, came to Obama and proposed him what no one was expected. He wanted Chrysler for Italians only if American government helped it through federal loans, and Fiat would saved it from bankruptcy. They made the deal and 3 years later the situation is completely different and really good for Chrysler and American jobs. The story seems to be simple and easy, but was a bit different from that, as so many factors opposed to that deal. First of all, American economic situation by that time made difficult, or political incorrect, to take people’s money to give it to foreigners to save a failed company. Then, Fiat’s proposal was to risky as they did not offer money for the initial 20% of the company and they could get up to 35% of the ownership of Chrysler without doing so. A lot of trust was needed to sign a deal like this. Obama was risking his own popularity and Fiat was risking its future. Of course the deal had opposition inside America’s political class. Mitt Romney, to fight for presidency today, said that it was better not to involve federal funds in the rescue of troubled car makers. As a Republican he believes the government should be as small as it can without interfere in economy, as this one can regulate itself. At the end Fiat and Obama made the deal and the consequences of it is known by everybody: Chrysler and its jobs were not only saved but the company is considered one of the healthiest with continuous sales growth and has become the savior of Fiat in Europe. Today, Americans will decide whether Barack Obama continues in office or Mitt Romney becomes the 45th president of the United States. As polls indicate that there is tight race, both candidates had become more aggressive in the last days, and sometimes imprecise. Regarding automotive sector, Mitt Romney’s Ad said Barack Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians while Jeep would move its production to China. It’s quite normal that when in a political campaign, all candidates become aggressive to gain more votes, but it shouldn’t mean not telling the whole story: Obama did not take GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. He saved them from disaster and now Chrysler is that well that it is planing not to move to China but to establish a new factory to produce its successful Jeep models in world’s largest market. Who ever wins the elections in America should remember this industry is vital for its economy and supporting it instead of atacking it is the best way to keep it healthy.

29/10/2012 by Felipe - 2 Comments

Brazil and Argentina September results. Any problems?

Fiat Uno is Brazil’s second best-selling car. Photo by netcarshow.com

September 2012 was a good and bad month for car registrations in Brazil and Argentina. Fiat Automoveis in Brazil was up 15.5% in a market down 5.2%. Meanwhile in Argentina things are not that good, as Fiat was down a massive 44.3%, much more than total market’s, down 24%. With a big market share in both markets, Fiat Auto depends a lot on them as European sales plunge and there is no solution yet. It is why it was so shocking not to see any all-new model in Sao Paulo last week, which is the most important car show in the region. Brazil and Argentina make part of MERCOSUR, one of world’s largest union trades, and their industry is more or less the same, sharing a lot of models and production lines.

September 2012 Brazil, Fiat’s top 3 best-selling models against its main rivals from VW. Source: bestsellingcarsblog.com, carsitaly.net

Fiat sold 54.800 passenger cars in Brazil last month, less than previous month (in which Fiat plus all its LCV brands sold a record of 100.000 cars). However, due to a tiny fall of the whole market, Fiat increased its market share and had its best so far, 25.57%. The reason for this is the great performance of new Palio, up 91%, which after one year of its official launch, seems to finally take off, no matter the difficult times it will face in the next months with the arrival of the updated VW Gol and new Hyundai HB20 and Chevrolet Onix, all presented in Sao Paulo. The new Siena did also great, up 64%, and it was the best-selling small sedan during that month, beating Chevrolet Corsa Sedan and VW Voyage. The popular Uno stays back, down 9%, as its main competitor, the VW Fox, grows 42%. It all seems that the Uno reached its top of its commercial life, while the Palio and Siena still have a bit way to grow. What’s missing is the arrival of new generation Strada, still strong but soon will get old.

Argentina’s car sales September 2012. Notice that new Fiat Palio is the only model from ‘B-Segment’ to increase its sales figures. Very bad for the Uno, Punto and Fiorino. The coming facelifted Punto and new Doblo will help to boost Fiat registrations. Source: bestsellingcarsblog.com, Autoblog Español

In Argentina Fiat brand sold a bit more than 5 thousand cars and contrary to what happened in Brazil, it got its worst market share so far this year, 7.97%. September was the fourth consecutive month of sales decrease for the company, in a market that shows signals of depletion. The boom the car industry had last year seems to finish this year as some economic problems affect buyers decision. Only the new Palio has good performance, up 16%. The Siena is down an alarming 56%, waiting for the new generation to come in the next weeks. The bad performance of the Siena (historically Argentina’s best-seller Fiat) plus the Uno down 57%, can explain the reason of the fall of the brand. These falls are explained by lower general demand but also because of some problems of stock as customs in the border with Brazil had some bureaucratic problems. Nevertheless Fiat has just presented the new Siena (starting at $17.300) and from some weeks ago it offers the Bravo, imported directly from Italy, starting at $29.900 US dollars. It is also working on more launches, with the new Punto, coming from Brazil, or the Idea. Even the Doblo, the passenger LCV made in Turkey, is part of the new cars Fiat will present soon, as this kind of vehicles is some how popular and Fiat has an important market share.

The Grand Siena was already presented in Argentina. It will be positioned between the regular Siena, locally produced, and the Linea. Photo by Carsale

Click here to see Brazil October 2012 Results

28/10/2012 by Felipe - 3 Comments

Fiat 500E gets ready

After Paris and Sao Paulo, the next important auto show will be held in Los Angeles, USA. It is certainly not as important as Detroit motor show, but Los Angeles has some relevance as it is the main city of the largest car market among USA states (California state captures 11% of the US market). California is also important as it is the place where hybrid and new energy-sources cars are really popular. According to California New Car Dealers Association, September YTD sales figures indicate that the hybrid Toyota Prius is the best-selling car over there, with more than 46.000 cars sold so far. The market is clearly dominated by Japanese brands with ‘C-Segment’ sedans, different from what happens in the rest of the country where big trucks and sedans are the kings of the roads. The same source shows that the small Fiat 500 occupies an interesting place, among best-selling models, with more than 6.300 units sold, much more than what it has sold in some European markets such as Spain or the Netherlands. Actually, California counts for 19% of Fiat 500 sales in USA, which is not a small number. It is why, according to some press releases, Fiat is getting prepared to present the 500E in Los Angeles motor show, starting November 30th. According to Autoblog Español, the small electric car will be limited edition, on sale exclusively for US market and will be powered by 100 hp, not bad to be a small and electric car. It follows Marchionne’s statement in which he said the small electric 500 would be ready in early 2013, even though it was not a profitable car, but an image brand car. And that’s really what Fiat needs now in America. After the great success of the regular 500 and Abarth, they must keep working on brand awareness to get more and more clients. The best way is with new presentations or special editions. In Los Angeles it is expected the presentation of the Fiat 500C Abarth and this electric version. They will be in charge of increasing the 500 family while the 500L arrives next year.