21/10/2012 by Felipe - 0 comments

Long-term test. Abarth 500 impresses

Photo by Autoblog Español

As a constant reader of Autoblog Español, I must reproduce a brief of what has been their long-term test with an Abarth 500. The guys from that blog have always done a great job when it is about telling auto news or, in this case, making an extreme test of a car. Yesterday they released what seems to be final results of 90.000 km with the powerful 500, which took them more than 2 years. One of their main goals, as they say, was to clarify how right or not were the rumors about reliability of Italian cars. As it is well-known Fiat Group cars, except for Ferrari and Maserati, suffer from a serious illness: the lack of trust by most European consumers. For some problems in the past related to quality, most of Italian cars are still fighting against that common idea that most of them have problems and are not reliable. But according to the guys from Autoblog it is more a myth than a reality, just as it is considered in the UK, where the Abarth 500 is among the best rated cars in terms of depreciation.

Photo by Autoblog Español

First of all, they fell in love with this car from the beginning, no matter it was neither the fastest nor the cheapest. However “it has a character and personality, and above all, you can fall in love with the way it moves and sounds“. Its fuel consumption average is about 7.8 liters/100 km, which means that is “a car with low fuel consumption taking into account how fast it goes on the road, and allow us to have fun without burning money“. In terms of quality, they are just impressed with the “phenomenal” way it ages. After 90.000 km there is not even one single weird noise of the materials in the dashboard. There was only one tiny sound in the sunroof which stopped after a quick maintenance. All plastic and leather components are extremely well-preserved and they seem to be less old. Only outside, due to some scratch and inside, the gear box, the car demonstrates it has been driven for almost 100.000 km. They did also have tiny problems with one of the headlights which stopped working only after some hours of use. According to Autoblog guys, the major problem they had, was when the starting system broke just before 50.000 km: “after being replaced by warranty, we can’t complain anymore about the mechanics of the car, which we consider more than reliable. From all cars we’ve tested so far, this is the one with less quantity of problems, and that’s a good thing for the small Italian produced in Tychy… Italian reliability topic has shown that, at least with this car, is just undeserved fame“. They recommend it for those who love the 500 and looking for a small and fun-to-drive car, which is unbeatable when it is about the perfect combination of fun-design-passion.

Interior for the unit tested. Photo by Autoblog Español

“The Abarth 500 is one of the few cars I don’t get bored with” says Guillermo Alfonsin, one Autoblog writers. Its engine with its 135 hp “has made me smiled”. Compared to high performance cars or more complete ones “I just took 5 minutes to want it. And every time I parked it in the garage, I could not resist to look back to see its shape of ‘sporty shoe’ that I have always loved“.

Engine for the unit tested. Photo by Autoblog Español

The unit tested was an Abarth 500 1.4 135 hp, 5-Speed manual. Taken from Autoblog Español, Prueba de larga duración: 90.000 km con el Abarth 500

04/10/2012 by Felipe - 11 Comments

Italian car market sinks. Fiat Group down 24%

Photo by 500blog

September 2012 was again a terrible month for Italian car market, down a massive 25,7%, the biggest fall since March 2012. Italians bought 37.000 cars less than one year ago, 44.000 less than two years ago, and 80.000 units less than in September 2009. That’s why specialized press has constantly said that there is a demotorizzazione of the market, which means that Italians are not buying cars as they used to since late 60’s till 5 years ago. Partly because of current European economic situation and partly because those years in which Italian government helped people to buy cars are gone. Fiat is part of the problem and the solution, but this time it seems it will have to do more by itself than with Italian support. In September the whole group sold 24,2% less than one year ago, again a bit better than total market. Fiat gained more market share while some of its main competitors contributed to a deepest fall of the market: Ford (-38%), Opel (-34%), Citroen (-32%) and Renault (-38%). In the other hand, VW was down only 13%, and Peugeot -5%. But the fact that there are other losing more market than Fiat does not mean that the situation of the Italian group is not bad. Certainly a double-digit fall is a worrying issue because it means that there is no such big market they had in mind when they built the factories all over Italy. Of course first victims of this disaster are new models that required a big investment for its development and now they don’t find the clients. Old models can do it better from the point of view of profits as their development costs are already amortized. Obviously less innovation means less sales, so the key is to find the right scenario for investment, innovation and sales.

Sales figures and variation for September 2012/2011. Source: http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net and UNRAE

Fiat brand was down 23% due to the Punto and surprisingly the Freemont, which was down a massive 53%. It is the first time it happens with this Crossover, as it was having very good results since its launch last year. There are two possible reasons: the first one could be the beginning of decline period of the Freemont as it was not an all-new model when it was introduced. And the second one, more feasible, is the emerge of new Fiat 500L, which had its first complete month in the dealerships. Last month 938 Fiat 500L were sold in Italy, 29 more units than Fiat Freemont. The Freemont sells around 1.500 units per month. Though they are not direct rivals, as the 500L belongs to ‘B-MPV’ segment while the Freemont is a ”D-MPV’ and their prices are quite far away from each others, it all seems that the new 500 MPV got some sales figures of its bigger brother. At the end most of Freemont’s offer is composed by 5 seats with diesel engines, which is pretty much what the 500L offers: 5 seats with lots of efficient diesel engines, and during this difficult times, some families would choose the cheapest option, no matter the big difference there is between them. Lancia’s sales figures dropped 26% because of the big fall of the Ypsilon, down 40%! Why a new car as the Ypsilon is having such bad results? car sales per segment indicate that ‘B-Segment’ is the most affected one with current crisis as the few people who buys a car are not looking for the traditional 5 door compact hatchback but for cheaper ones no matter the car is smaller. The Ypsilon is part of that change. Alfa Romeo sold 24% less, which is not bad at all as it depends on only 2 models, one of them extremely competitive but the other one far away from that denomination. The Giulietta continues to impress no matter the great power the VW Golf has in Italy and the new competitors coming from Germany. There is no doubt that Alfa Romeo guys must be really worried about coming months when the new generation of VW Golf will arrive. Jeep has the worst result, down an impressive 59%. It seems the new Grand Cherokee can not do it by itself and the lack of modern ‘C-SUV’ offer affects considerably Jeep’s total registrations. Ferrari was down 52% and Maserati -55%.

Italy car sales by segment A, B and C. (e) for estimated. Source: http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net, UNRAE

938 Fiat 500L were sold in September. It allowed it to be the second best-selling small MPV in Italy. Source: http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net

Click here to see Italy October 2012 results

Click here to see Italy August 2012 results

29/09/2012 by Felipe - 8 Comments

Dodge Journey, a good idea

The next model to be analyzed is the Dodge Journey, also known as Fiat Freemont in some other markets. It was conceived as a new concept of vehicle intended to catch those clients looking for roominess in a car that is not as tall as a SUV and not as big as a MPV. This Dodge, which could be considered a Crossover, was presented in 2007 in Frankfurt Motor Show and available in American market in the first quarter of 2008. Chrysler used Dodge Avenger’s platform to create this mid-sized MPV (for segmentation reasons is closer to a Multi-Propose-Vehicle than a SUV) as a smaller and more practical version of big Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan. This kind of cars is very popular in North America and they did a very good job as sales figures confirm it. The Journey became a referent in a new segment, which by the time of the launch of this car, was almost unknown in the US and Canada. Since its launch, Dodge has done quite good with this product, not only in the positioning phase, but also with the updates it has had so far to keep it as a fresh product. It has also become an interesting option in those other markets where it is available, and was the base for the development of the first rebadged Fiat, the Freemont, on sale in Europe and Brazil.

Dodge Journey information for September 2012. Source: Dodge USA

Fiat Freemont information for September 2012. Source: Fiat Italia

It is considered a MPV as it can transport up to seven passengers in a car that is not as tall as a regular SUV. The car is as big as its origin, where big cars are the most popular. It is 4.88 m length and 1.87 m wide, and that’s why there it can accommodate without any problem, up to 7 passengers in the top versions. Unlike some other real MPV, its rear doors are opened normally as any other regular car. Because of its measures, the Journey is positioned in two different segments according to the market. Normally it would always be considered a ‘D-MPV’, the top segment for MPV. But in America Dodge offers a larger MPV, called Grand Caravan, which is also considered a ‘D-MPV’. For segmentation reasons in America, the Journey is part of mid-sized MPV, or ‘C-MPV’ segment. In Europe, where big MPV are not that usual, the Fiat Freemont is considered a ‘D-MPV’ because of its size and its competitors (the Freemont is closer to a VW Sharan than a Touran, or closer to a Renault Espace than a Scenic). The segmentation of the Journey/Freemont according to the market is more or less the same what happens with the Fiat Linea in Brazil and Europe, where the same car is positioned differently and so does the client approach. At any case the Journey is a different option from the Grand Caravan, aka Chrysler Town & Country or Lancia Voyager. It is more sporty and less family car than those big MPVs.

Units sold per model in each market. Market share of each model in its segment for 2011. Change on sales figures in the period January-August. Source: Good Car Bad Car, http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net, FGW Data basis, FANAVABRE

The car got its first facelift in 2011 when Fiat began selling it in Europe, so they decided to improve its interior and add some engine options. Before that, European clients used to received the Dodge Journey in Chrysler dealerships, but Marchionne and his team decided it was an excellent product and it deserved better sales figures using Fiat brand. And it worked, even though it could have better results if it was not because of the European car industry crisis. During its first year in the US, the Journey sold more than 47.000 units, while American market was dealing with the deep financial crisis years. But when things seemed to be bad for car sales in USA and Canada, the Journey did very well. Produced in Mexico, it has always benefited from low labor cost so its price is some how competitive. That’s also the same place where the rebadged Freemont is produced for Europe. But good sales did not stop. The Journey was Chrysler’s only product to rise its sales figures in 2009. In Europe it was presented as the Fiat Freemont in Geneva 2011 with sales target of 40.000 units per year, half of them in Italy. And at least Italian results have proved the target is not unreal. The car intends to be a successor of not one but 3 models: the Fiat Ulysse, Multipla and Croma.

Because of being a mix between a SUV and a MPV, the Journey does not have clear competitors in American market. Ford Flex and Honda Crosstour are likely to be its rivals because of their shapes, engine options and prices. Source: Car & Driver, Autos AOL, SGCarmart, Good Car Bad Car

In Europe the Freemont has done better than Journey and it has gained some market share all over Europe. It has become more popular than extinct Fiat Croma and Multipla. Source: Omniauto, http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net, http://www.carsitaly.net

As it is a car conceived for American market, it is offered with big and powerful American engines. In US market the offer is composed by 2.4-Liter 16V Dual VVT and 173 hp, and 3.6L V6 PentastarVVT and 283 hp. In Europe there are 3 options: 2 diesels and one petrol. The first two are a 2.0 Multijet with 140 hp and 2.0 Multijet with 170 hp. The petrol one is the same American Pentastar engine with 283 hp. All of these engine options are available with front or all-wheel-drive transmission. It is why the car can perfectly compete with a full equiped MPV or a mid size SUV. But as it is a weird product is not easy to find direct rivals. In North America, it belongs to ‘C-MPV’ so its main rivals are Ford Flex and Honda Crosstour. In Europe its has more rivals as it is one segment above. The Freemont must compete with Ford S-Max, Peugeot 5008, Renault Espace and VW Sharan. In many cases the Journey/Freemont is cheaper than most of them and offers practically the same advantages in a more compact car. It explains why the Journey became America’s best-selling mid-sized MPV and in Europe the Freemont is now in Top 5. Brazil and China are the only markets to receive both versions, the Journey and Freemont. The future for the model? it is not clear yet whether Fiat and Dodge will develop the second generation together. But certainly the success the car has had in both sides of the Atlantic ocean is a key factor to develop a future generation together. Dodge can offer sporty and family cars. Fiat is well-known for its family and practical cars.