Author Archives: Felipe

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Chrysler grows less than American market in August

Good news for Chrysler and American car market. August was again a good month for Chrysler Group sales figures which went up 14% thanks to great results of Chrysler brand. However Chrysler’s results are not as good as total markets’. American car market was up 20% and confirms the good trend it has had in the last months. According to some analysts the good result was led by Honda, VW Group and Toyota, followed by double-digit sales gains by GM, Ford and Chrysler. One year ago the seasonally adjusted sales was 12.5 million units (August 2010 – August 2011) and this year it was 14.53 million (August 2011 – August 2012). Year-to-date numbers indicate that the market has grown 14.7%, which could be considered the best growth among developed countries. There is no doubt that American car market is recovering from the dark years it had during the financial crisis, the opposite of what is happening in Europe nowadays.

Source: Good Car Bad Car

In that great context Chrysler Group plus Fiat occupies fourth place in the ranking of cars sold. In August the whole group sold 148.472 units, up 14%, or 18.300 more cars than one year ago. That result is better than the whole year’s average of 138.579 and is the third best of the year in terms of units. However as it was said before the good result of Chrysler was exceeded by total market’s, so in terms of growth August was the second worst after July when Chrysler Group sales figure were up only 12.6%. That growth is practically the same Dodge/Ram brands had together and is more than Jeep’s which was up only 5.5%. In the other hand Chrysler brand was up 24.8% and Fiat sold a new record of 4.150 units, up 33.6%. Dodge/Ram represents half of total sales. Compared to other car makers, Chrysler did worse than Honda  division (+60%), Toyota (+46%) and VW Group (+48%), but better than Ford (+13%) and GM (+10%).

Though there is a good result in August 2012, sales figures are still far from pre-crisis numbers. Source: http://www.carsitaly.net

Unlike sales figures, market share shows that Chrysler is growing up faster than total market. Source: http://www.carsitaly.net

The Ram is up 19% while the Caravan had a great performance, up 35%. Among Dodge models the new Dart took off with more than 3 thousand units, which is far from the target but is a result that Marchionne liked. The Journey had the best performance, up a massive 58%. The Chrysler 200 slowed down but the 300 grew up 65%. The Jeep Grand Cherokee seems to reach its top with almost 13.000 units sold. Now Chrysler needs more fresh products and new midsize SUV if it wants to keep its good performance.

Source: http://www.carsitaly.net, Good Car Bad Car

 

Click here to see USA September 2012 Results

Click here to see USA July 2012 Results

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August/12, Fiat suffers in a terrible Italian market

One more terrible month for Italian car market. Again the fall was above 20% and things don’t seem to get better. During August 2012 Italian market fell 20.23% compared to August/11, which means it is the third month in a row with a drop above 20% after June (-24.4%) and July (-21.4%)*. It was by far the worst result among big markets in Europe (Germany, France, UK, Spain, Benelux) and means a big threat for the future of Fiat Group in Europe, which considers Italy as its ‘fortress’ such as France is for Renault or PSA. It is why some important car industry analyst continue to look for solutions to stop the crisis that could result in another factory closure in the next months. The Automobile Club d’Italia, ACI, said this week that what the government is doing has not helped at all to solve the problem. “Government’s policies have focused only in the rise of taxes to car buyers, who are now decreasing the use of their cars looking to reduce their expenses… more than going forward, car industry is using the reverse, at least in our country: like this there is no future. We ask the government to establish a work group to create a strategy to give some oxygen to car buyers and companies, so more than 10.000 jobs can be saved. The first and immediate policy could be the reduction of taxes on gasoline“. In fact what makes Italian market to have the worst fall among European car markets is that gas prices and new taxes are the rising a lot. Italians buy fewer cars as having one means more expenses than before and economic situation in Europe does not seem to get better in the short or mid-term.

Europe’s sales registrations during August 2012

In this terrible context Fiat-Chrysler sold 16.699 cars in August 2012, or 29.58%** of total market. It means the whole group’s sales figures fell 20.59%, a bit more than total markets’. The reason for this fall on its market share (one year ago it was 29.72%) is explained by the big fall of Lancia, down 32%, strongly dependant on Ypsilon model which had a strong fall. Something that did not happen to Fiat and Alfa Romeo. Fiat registrations fell ‘only’ 17.54% allowing it to gain more market share, while Alfa Romeo was down 20.49%. The other 3 brands, Jeep, Ferrari and Maserati, the small ones in terms of units sold, had very bad results. Ferrari sold only 6 units, down a massive 63%, while Maserati sold 4 units, down 72%. The reason for the super cars fall is the new policy against the owners of this kind of cars. Anyway less units sold of these two brands has a bigger impact on profits. Comparing to other car makers, Fiat brand sold 2.4 more cars than its immediate competitor, VW, while one year ago it sold 2.31 more cars than Ford, the second one by that time. Fiat’s fall was lower than Ford, Opel, Citroen and Renault’s, while VW, Peugeot, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia (+78%) did better. Alfa Romeo did better than BMW but Mercedes and Audi had lower falls. It sold more cars than Mercedes.

Italy’s car sales figures by brand during August 2012. Fiat brand did better than total market while Lancia did bad because of the fall of the Ypsilon. Source: UNRAE

In terms of models the situation is pretty much the same. The Panda was again the best-selling car and was up 10%, while the Punto was in second place, down 50% and only 680 units above the Ford Fiesta, the second place of B-Segment. But what really impresses is the massive fall of Lancia Ypsilon, down 49%. It is the first time this new generation has bad results and Lancia must be thinking of what went wrong and what to do for the coming months for a model that is still considered a new product. The small 500 fell 4% thanks to new versions and colours, but also because VW has not been able to gain a good place among A-Segment cars with its Up!. The Giulietta did well with more than 1.000 units sold, allowing to be Italy’s 10th best-selling car and this time 670 units behind the leader, the old VW Golf (the Alfa was down 9.7% while the Golf was down 16.5%). Other good results come from the Lancia Musa, up 125%, and the Thema with 48 units delivered, up 300%. The Bravo sold only 489 units, down 45% while the Freemont begins its slowdown as it sold 13% less than one year ago.

Top 5 per segment in Italy in August 2012. Certainly B-Segment is the one with worst results and the Peugeot 208 is catching some part of that segment. The same happens with the Panda which is killing its rivals from France. Source: UNRAE

Year-to-date numbers show that 290.840 Fiat, Lancia, Alfa, Jeep, Ferrari and Maseratis were sold until August. It means   73.604 cars less than one year ago, or -20.19%. Compared to total market’s performance (-19.86%), Fiat-Chrysler’s share is now 29.64% while one year ago was a bit better, 29.77%. Only Ford, Toyota and Renault did worse than that, while Germans fell but not that bad, and Koreans gained a big share of the market, as it is happening in Europe. At the end Fiat-Chrysler is suffering the consequences of a market that was tainted by government helps for several years, and now is doing the opposite. What Fiat must do is to depend less not only on Italian market but on government aid, no matter if it means less units sold, because at the end those units will be safe and real sales.

 

Click here to see Italy September 2012 results

 

*www.carsitaly.net

** UNRAE

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Learning about cars: the ‘D-SUV’ Segment

All those SUV with some luxury features and larger size, without being the most luxury or expensive ones, are considered the ‘D’ segment SUV. These Sport Utility Vehicles are not based on regular passenger cars but most of them are created as what they are, SUVs. It means they don’t share any component or platform with any other car and their goal is to serve as real tall and powerful cars. They are a bit less popular than ‘C-SUV’ but they rule in world’s largest market, the USA. Last year more than 2.5 million units were sold in the main markets, and the US market counted for half of them. They are the most popular SUV in America. The segment is mainly ruled by Asians and Americans, who have always had mid-size SUV. Anyway with the arrival of smaller SUV and better luxury larger SUV, the ‘D’ SUVs are struggling to survive.

Jeep Liberty/Cherokee Arctic. Photo by netcarshow.com

Fiat-Chrysler’s position can be considered good. They offer the old Jeep Cherokee/Liberty and the famous Jeep Wrangler. The first one will be soon replaced by an all-new model in order to gain some reputation of the good Jeep Grand Cherokee but in a smaller size. Meanwhile the Wrangler is one of the most popular and appreciated SUV of the segment. In 2011 it was the third best-selling D SUV in USA and Canada, no matter it still uses an old platform. It allowed the group to reach 17.5% of the segment in USA and 11.3% in Canada*. But these two Jeeps are also popular in Greece (15%), Venezuela (46%), or in some countries of the Middle East. At the end Jeep must work on a better Cherokee and think of an excellent successor for the Wrangler, which could be considered another icon such as the Fiat 500.

‘D-SUV’ segment offer in Europe, America and Australasia

 

Click here to see ‘E/F-SUV’ Segment

Click here to see ‘C-SUV’ Segment

*FGW data

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Argentina: the new market for Italian Fiat Bravo

The beauty Fiat Bravo is getting ready for a new conquest. Although it has been on sale since 2007, the car has never had good sales figures not even in Italy. The lack of a 3 door version, Station wagon and more engine options, has made of it a complete flop for Fiat. Nowadays, tough times in Europe indicate that the model will soon disappear so European version of Fiat Viaggio will arrive. And sales figures confirm it: in 2010, 43.116 units were sold in Europe and one year later only 31.673*. During the first 6 months of 2012, only 9.611 units were sold. It means the C-Segment car from Fiat is losing market share as no other. Mainly because of the success of the Alfa Giulietta in Italy, and the good sales figures of Kia Cee’d/Hyundai i30 in Europe. This is certainly really bad news for Fiat as C-Segment is Europe’s second largest one and the car is not old at all. Besides it means less production levels for its plan of Cassino, that produces the trio Bravo/Giulietta/Delta.

Italian Fiat Bravo is expected to hit Argentinean market late 2012

One of the solutions for this over capacity problem is to open Italian factories to international markets, or those markets located outside Europe. Marchionne has said repeatedly that future of Italian production depends on its ability to export far away from European Union. But it will take a while to reach that goal as Europe is not really open to global markets and European products are not really competitive when they are exported abroad. Anyway they just began to do it and the Bravo is the chosen one. The place: Argentina, an emerging market that has reached sales figures above Spain  or Indonesia, and gets close to Australian market numbers. Almost 858.000 cars were sold over there in 2011, up a massive 29%. In 2012 things seem to stabilize but the country is now a big market for car sales and production. Fiat has one factory in Cordoba, where it produces the B-Segment sedan Siena for local consumption but also for exports to Brazil. It is one of the biggest of that country and the brand is well-known among buyers. Though it could be considered a closed market in terms of imports, Argentina is becoming not only big but also difficult when it is about competition with local manufacturers such as VW (where the Amarok was first produced), Renault and GM. Last year almost 42% of total sales were B-Segment cars, a bit more than Brazil’s percentage, while A-Segment is much smaller than Brazil’s. Only 9.5% of total sales were that kind of cars. It means the position of Fiat in Argentina is not as comfortable as it is in Brazil. It can be seen in its market share, around 10%-11%, far away from the 22%-23% it has in Brazil. Fiat had 33% of A-Segment in Argentina during 2011, 12% in B-Segment and only 1% of C-Segment***.

Current Fiat Bravo detail

It is why Fiat is now preparing the launch of Italian Fiat Bravo in Argentina. According to the latest official video of Fiat Argentina, the car will be available in late 2012 with two engines options: 1.4 Turbo 16V MultiAir with 140 hp and 1.6 Turbo MultiJet diesel with 120 hp. Among the features are the Stop/Start system, Xenon headlights, ABD, EBD, leather seats, Blue&Me system, double sunroof Skydome, parking sensors, and others. Prices are not yet published but it is expected that the car will be as expensive as its main competitors, Ford Focus, Renault Megane and Peugeot 308. So, as European sales of Bravo drop, it can find another market where it could have an interesting position among Compact cars in a market that is growing a lot. Good for Cassino plant.

*www.carsitaly.net

**bestsellingcarsblog.com

*** FGW data

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Fuel-efficient Ram to gain more market share

The 2013 Ram 1500

The 2013 version of the Ram is getting ready to get more market share with better fuel-efficiency. It is powered by 3.6 liter and 305 hp in a V6 engine, and thanks to new features the truck has a fuel economy rating of 18 city/25 highway. It is much better than current model: 14/20. It will be introduced in late 2012 starting at $23.585 and there will be more engine options such as the 4.7 liter V8 or the 5.7 Hemi V8. Outside the car will not change. But the good things come inside as it will offer the Start/Stop system, active grill shutters, adjustable suspension to lower the truck when it goes in high speed roads to reduce air drag. All those features will allow the largest member of Fiat-Chrysler alliance to reduce its fuel consumption and bring new customers as it will be the most efficient truck available in the US market. Recently Ram trucks had gained more market share without being really competitive in terms of fuel efficiency. In the last year Ram has been able to gain market share among big trucks.

Units sold and market share of 3 main trucks in US market. The Ram has gained more market share in the last year but it still far away from the good years before the financial crisis. Source: http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net

Source: Automotive News

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VW Up! threatens Fiat Panda’s leadership

If June was a bad month for the couple Fiat Panda-500, July was even worse. If it is considered sales figures of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland, during las month 13.272 Pandas were sold, just 51 units above the sum of Up!, Citigo and Mii. It is the first time the German trio reaches that great result and now it is not only more popular than Fiat 500 but it seems it will beat Fiat Panda and maybe dethrone it in the next months. It is important to mention that in this monthly analysis it is being considered 3 models with 3 and 5 door versions for the VW/Skoda/Seat against one single model of Fiat 500 with only 3 doors option and the two latest generations of Fiat Panda, only available with 5 door body.  Anyway, the Panda has been always Europe’s best selling A-Segment car but it has had a tough time not only in its native Italy, where it dropped 17.5% compared to June figures, but also in all other countries except for Romania and Slovakia. The small Fiat fell 25% compared to June figures, much more than Fiat 500, down 16%, while the Germans are up 7%. The 500 is down everywhere in Europe except for Austria, up 17%, Denmark, up 3%, and Poland, up 68%.

In July the Up!/Citigo/Mii are more popular in Austria, Czech Rep., Germany, Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland. They had a record sales in Austria, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland. The situation for Fiat is really bad as two important things must be analyzed: first of all, it was July, a historical bad month for car sales everywhere in Europe, and Fiat models dropped but the VWs were up. And the second one is that the product with the deepest fall was the Panda, an all-new product on sale since January. Year-to-date records show that the Panda commands with a big difference but the 500 will be soon replaced as the second best selling A-Segment car by the German trio. If Italian car market continues to fall, while the Up! keeps rising in Germany, Fiat will not only lose and important market share in A-segment but will be in serious trouble in the next months. Of course the UK, not included due to lack of data, is an important market for the Fiat 500.

Green cells indicate growth compared to June figures. Red ones indicate fall. Source: http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net

Click here to see Fiat Panda/500 vs. VW Up! August 2012

Click here to see Fiat Panda/500 vs. VW Up! June 2012

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Learning about cars: the ‘C-SUV’ Segment

Jeep Compass. In 2011 was number 7 in the ranking of best selling C-SUV. Will be replaced soon by a model shared with Fiat. Photo by http://www.netcarshow.com

It’s time for larger SUVs. After the smallest ones the ‘C’ SUVs are much more popular and therefore there are more options worldwide. Some of them are based on ‘C’ segment cars, like the BMW X1 and 1 Series. As in the ‘B-SUV’ segment, there are a lot of kinds, some of them luxury and some larger or shorter. At the end, these SUVs are world’s most popular because they have the right size and are not expensive as larger ones. That’s why most of all car makers have developed their own SUV in this segment, well in some markets people are changing their regular passenger cars for a ‘C-SUV’. Last year around 3.7 million units were sold worldwide and this time is not China but the USA the largest market. Americans love them: almost 1.1 million units were sold no matter the high prices of oil and gas. China follows with 830.000 cars, and then comes Germany 220.000, Canada, 175.000, and the UK with 135.000 units. By makers more or less all of them have a model in this segment. Japanese are very strong with Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda. But they are not alone. Germans have also developed their cars but more expensive. French have some offer but all of it is based on Asian models.  Americans began to produced C-SUVs when they saw they were so popular and people wanted them. And of course Koreans have their offer with very competitive prices and products.

The Jeep Patriot is basically the same Compass but with more classic design. It is a bit more popular than the Compass. Photo by http://www.netcarshow.com

Fiat Group has never had a car in this segment. Only after the acquisition of Chrysler, there are 2 models offered: the Jeep Compass and Patriot. They were developed to compete with Toyota Rav4, Honda CR-V and some other Asians but they are not popular. Even though the first one got a deep facelift some months ago but has not been able to rise its sales figures. In 2011 almost 70.000 Compass and 80.000 Patriot were sold world-wide. The US market represented the largest market by far: 48.000 Compass and 55.000 Patriot. But the group wants more because they see this is an important segment with high growth rates in developing countries. That’s why Fiat is working on a new car to be presented in 2013 and will be a SUV under Jeep and Fiat brands. Here there are the ‘C-SUV’ cars:

C-SUV options around the world

 

Click here to see ‘D-SUV’ Segment

Click here to see ‘B-SUV’ Segment

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More Fiat 500 for the USA

Fiat USA is doing really good and Marchionne wants more. The arrival of the 500 Abarth was the begining of great sales figures as American buyers love high performance cars and don’t really car about fuel consumption. Nevertheless the American offer was still small and there was a big hole between the regular Fiat 500 with 100 hp and the Abarth version with 160 hp. People love the second one but in some cases it can be really expensive. Fiat solved this problem and today they presented the Fiat 500 T. The car has Fiat logo and no Abarth one and is moved by 135 hp, just the same engine used for Abarth 500 basic version in Europe. The difference is that the American version uses MutiAir system. Though it does not have the Abarth logo it uses some exterior features like the Abarth, such as the bumpers. One more thing: it is the first model to use the Beats sound system just like the Fiat 500L. Pricing will start at $20.200 and will be available this fall.

Here it is the link of the presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEPqttdBkOw&feature=player_embedded#!

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Learning about cars: the ‘B-SUV’ Segment

SUV, Sport Utiliy Vehicle, is a name given to those larger and taller cars which most of the times use 4WD transmission. As regular cars, SUV are also divided by segments but in this case there is no ‘A’ segment because their size has been always larger than cars. The ‘B-SUV’ segment are those SUV with the shorter measures though the segmentation of SUV is more difficult in terms of length as there are so many options with several measures and features and in some cases there are big but no luxury SUVs or the opposite. It is why in this segment it is possible to find two different models such as the Dacia/Renault Duster and the Mini Countryman. The first one is a low cost and small SUV while the second one is much more expensive but shorter. At the end both, cars and some others are whether the cheapest or the shortest.

Fiat Sedici interior. This kind of SUV are small and sometimes based on ‘B’ Segment cars. Photos by http://www.netcarshow.com

Sometimes they are the SUV version of ‘B-Segment’ cars, as the Duster which is based in the Renault Logan/Sandero. As this kind of vehicles are short and sometimes cheap, Fiat could have a better position as it is strong with small cars. Some years ago they signed an agreement with Suzuki to produce a small SUV called Sedici for Fiat and SX4 for Suzuki. The Fiat model has not been successful but the Suzuki has had better sales figures specially because it is also produced and sold outside Europe. Nevertheless there is a good future for Fiat in this segment. They are developing the SUV version of the 500, already shown during the presentation of the 500L in Turin. Last year Fiat sold around 15.000 units Sedicis in a segment that sold around 1.2 million units worldwide. The largest market was China with almost 300.000 units, followed by India, where the Suzuki does a great job. In Europe, France was the largest market where the Duster got an important place.

 

Click here to see ‘C-SUV’ Segment

Click here to see ‘F-Passenger’ Segment

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Bad pre-start for Fiat Viaggio in China

Photo by China Car Times

It is nothing related to sales figures. The new sedan based on the Dodge Dart that Fiat will sell from September had a terrible accident when it was part of a high speed test in Taicang, near to Shanghai. The model under test was a 1.4T which hit a motorcycle rider who died instantly. The two passengers inside the Viaggio were not injured but the car was severely damaged especially in the side. The 4.67 m long sedan will be on sale starting around 120.000 yuan (US$18.900) and is expected to hit the market in the C-segment sedans to compete with VW Jetta and Sagitar or others like the Buick Excelle, Hyundai Elantra or the Citroen C-Quattre. Last week Fiat showed the first pictures of the interior, which did not change from the Dodge Dart version in the US.

Unlike what happened in the exterior, the Viaggio kept its interior exactly as the American version