Author Archives: Felipe

by - 3 Comments

Fiat to sell directly in India

After 6 years of Joint Venture with Indian Tata, Fiat has decided to redefine some of the agreements with this important car maker. From now on, Italians will be in charge of their car sales and distribution with their own society. This will allow them to control in a better way the relationship with dealers and final customers and therefore increase their presence in India. Fiat and Tata have a Production and Distribution JV in India since 2006 but sales results for Fiat are not pretty good. In 2007 Italians sold 3000 cars, and 2 years later they jumped up to record of 23000 units of a range mainly composed by Fiat Linea and Punto, locally produced with Tata. But since that, sales have decreased dramatically and last year they delivered only 17000 units. Partly explained by the fact that Italians have not changed model range and Linea and Punto are losing market share because of the arrival of VW Vento (aka as Polo Sedan), Skoda Rapid, Hyundai Verna and Honda City.

India has become an important market thanks to its rapid growth and specially because of its total sales forecast for the coming years. Only 2.4 million people bought a new car during 2011 in a country with more than 1.1 billion, which means a New Car Ratio of  2 new cars per 1000 inhabitants (in USA, NCR is 41). These numbers indicate the high potential this market has and how important it is for all car makers to be there. Indian people love small cars. Therefore Indian A segment was world’s second largest after Japan and becomes a key segment for a A Segment key player such as Fiat. 41% of total market correspond to small cars, being Maruti-Suzuki ones the most popular. And close to it, comes B segment (Punto and Linea, among others) which counts 37%. These numbers confirm the importance of this market for a company like Fiat, whose market share could be stengthen by the arrival of a specific Panda/Uno for them.

A Fiat Caffè Dealership in India

It is my believe, that with this new step and its focus on new models, allong with its background making small cars, Fiat could reach 200,000 units, by the year 2016 in a market that will grow really fast. We will see.

by - 5 Comments

The new Fiat Viaggio to come to Europe?

First they surprised us with presentation of Dodge Dart in Detroit. And then they went even further when they showed its cousin, the new Fiat Viaggio in Beijing. Most of comments online, both specialized media and common readers, were positive and crearly nice when watching the first images. Certainly it is a nice C segment sedan for a market that really likes big sedans with a lot of accesories. Fiat was one of the last car automakers not to have a full presence in China and therefore they needed urgently to come again (after 2 tries) offering the best of the best.

Fiat will build the Viaggio from July/12 to be on sale this year in the world’s largest market. The challenge will not be easy, as segment C is really crowded of options and represented almost 40% of total passenger cars market in 2011. Though some analyst have said that Fiat has arrived late in this important market, other sources indicate that what is really important is the fact they will offer a local product, with the latest technology, good shape and with the size most chinese people like. In other words, I believe the Viaggio can reach 60000 units sold during its first year with important growth in coming years as brand image begins to be recognized.

Nevertheless its possible results at home, by reading some comments in Spanish, Italian, and French sites, most of people have claimed the possibility of offering the Viaggio in Europe. C segment is Europe’s second largest car segment (the first in Germany), and the competition is really tough as its type of client is someone conservative who does not want to change the model, and who does not want to risk with unknown brands. It explains why VW Golf has been ruling Europe from so many years, others like Koreans have gained some market share thanks to their warranty offer, while others such as Fiat have had a bit of the cake and continue to decrease their market share.

Fiat Group needs to increase its market share in C segment in Europe. They have reached some important numbers with Alfa Romeo Giulietta, but as its demand begins to slow down, while Fiat Bravo and Lancia Delta are not at all popular, the situation must be changed as soon as possible. Is it the Viaggio a solution? personally I don’t think so, as this model is really big, does not offer a hatcback version (the largest part of C segment) and Fiat’s image as large car maker is not well known in Europe. For me, the best thing Fiat could do would be to offer it, after a deep make up, as the larger version of Alfa Giulietta offering also a SW version (very popular in Italy). It could increase not only C segment offers but Alfas’ range of models. So it seems this beauty sedan will take a long viaggio before coming to Europe.

by - 0 comments

USA: Chrysler, the only one of big three to grow up in April

April/12 was again an excellent month for Chrysler Group. In a overall market that moderates its growth (just 2%), the Pentastar was the only one of big three from Detroit to increase its registrations. A total of 141000 units of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM and Fiat models were delivered, which represents an increase of 20% on Apr/11 and the 25th consecutive month of sales growth. Market share is also the highest achieved in 2012: 11.9%. This good result is mainly explained by the success of Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler, RAM pickup and recently Chrysler 200 and 300. It is also expected the sales to be even better thanks to launch of Dodge Dart, available from June/12.

Nevertheless, Chryslers’ main challenge is to keep this good performance in a market that, despite its recover, is now facing a period of stabilization. And at the same time the Group should focus on improving its range of vehicules in D and E segment in order to face better Toyota, which continues to be the third in the ranking.

by - 0 comments

New sales record for Fiat 500 in the US

The small Fiat had the best sales performance during April/12 since its launch. 3845 units of the 500, 500C and Abarth were delivered to clients, which represents 336% more than one year ago and 4% more than the previous record in March/12. It brings YTD numbers to 12695 units. If this trend continues we expect total year sales of 40000 units, not far from the first forecasts of Mr. Marchionne of 50000 units/year. The success of Abarth version explains this great numbers. There is 6 month waiting list for this model which will become the biggest part of total sales.

It seems the US market will become largely the second market for the Cinquecento, after Italy, altough March/12 was practicaly the first one, when 3712 units were sold compared to a very poor result in Italy, 3107, due in part to transport strike.