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Two Richmond-area dealers part of Fiat's return to U.S.
By Louis Llovio | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: November 18, 2010
Richmond, Va. --
Two Richmond-area Chrysler dealers will be among the first to sell Fiats in the U.S. as the Italian automaker makes its return to the U.S. market after an absence of nearly 30 years.
Chrysler Group LLC announced yesterday that 130 U.S. dealers in 39 states would carry the Fiat brand. Six of those dealers are in Virginia, including Pearson Auto Group and Whitten Brothers Inc.
Pearson will operate Fiat of North Richmond, and Whitten will operate Fiat of South Richmond.
The two dealers will sell the subcompact 2012 Fiat 500, which is made at Chrysler's Mexico plant.
Chrysler said the Fiat 500's starting price will be $15,500.
About 60 percent of customers are expected to pre-order versions of the Fiat 500, which will be offered with 14 exterior colors and other customizable features, said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in the U.S. The current version of the subcompact has sold 500,000 units in Italy and other markets.
"People have waited this long, they want it the way they want it," Soave said yesterday at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where she announced the vehicle's pricing.
"Customers don't want to look like everyone else. They want to make this a special experience," she said.
Fiat gained control of Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler during its bankruptcy last year and is using it to bring the Italian automaker's namesake brand back to America after it pulled out in 1983 with a reputation for unreliable cars.
Research shows that a new generation of auto buyers has a different impression of Fiat, Soave said.
This is the second time this week that the Richmond area has been selected as an exclusive market by an auto manufacturer.
On Monday, Ford Motor Co. announced that the Richmond market is one of 19 areas where the automaker initially will sell its battery-powered, all-electric Ford Focus starting late next year.
The Richmond area also will be one of the markets where Nissan's battery-powered Leaf will be available beginning next month.
George Hoffer, a professor of economics specializing in the automobile industry at the University of Richmond, said introducing the vehicles in Richmond makes sense for many automakers.
"Richmond is close to Washington, so it's a logical extension," he said.
Experts see Northern Virginia and the Washington area as among the leading markets for alternative-energy vehicles.
"By next summer, Richmonders will have the option of buying all three of the next-generation frontier cars," he said.
http://www2.timesd...-fiat18-ar-660702/
"Deep in the human psyche there lies the need to believe in something fantastic, something powerful, something unknown."
"Touch what you cannot solve, and return to me. I'll give you hints, and I'll give you three..." Zork Nemesis "I eat asbestos and piss PCBs." | |
fait abarth is win
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One of my local dealerships (the closest chrysler/dodge/jeep to my house) will be getting a Fiat branch too... I'm not sure if it's going in the same plaza though. Rest assured, i will be test driving one. I dont care if i look like a clown in a mini car, it will be a blast!
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. | |
for those of us older than 30, the words Fiat (and Renault) bring back images of cars that rotted fast, fell apart, were hard to work on, hard to get parts for and when they did run, they ran like a pile of shit.
[last edit 11/18/2010 6:28 PM by Samurai - edited 1 times]
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Posted by Samurai
for those of us older than 30, the words Fiat (and Renault) bring back images of cars that rotted fast, fell apart, were hard to work on, hard to get parts for and when they did run, they ran like a pile of shit.
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sam, you live in the 'dacks. everything but bowties and AMC jeeps rot fast and run like shit.
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. | |
I've owned 2 Fiats, still have one. I loved them both. Neither one was very good at all, but for some reason, I'd own another, and it'd be an Abarth 500.
hi i like cars | |
Fiat, like Renault, learned their lesson after their attempts in the US in the past and now are pretty successful.
/me points to Nissan, which is now owned by Renault.
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Posted by velcrozeppelin
sam, you live in the 'dacks. everything but bowties and AMC jeeps rot fast and run like shit.
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not true.
there are certain parts of where I live where cars are just savaged by the environment. Up towards Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Paul Smith's... cars are just rotted to fuck, even newer cars.
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as much as I love the fiat 500, its overpriced
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Posted by Samurai
for those of us older than 30, the words Fiat (and Renault) bring back images of cars that rotted fast, fell apart, were hard to work on, hard to get parts for and when they did run, they ran like a pile of shit.
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Sam is correct. It had nothing to do with where you lived. The Fiats available in the North America 30 years ago were absolute shit boxes. I would hope that Fiat has learned a lesson, but I don't know that it will help them. People have long memories when they have been screwed over. The previous Fiat owners were definitely not happy and made sure to tell all of their peers, neighbors and children.
"Deep in the human psyche there lies the need to believe in something fantastic, something powerful, something unknown."
"Touch what you cannot solve, and return to me. I'll give you hints, and I'll give you three..." Zork Nemesis "I eat asbestos and piss PCBs." | |
I also would like to point out, unlike the AMC/Renault fiasco along with the DalmlerChrysler disaster, the Chrysler engineers of today actually are eager to work with the Fiat engineers and vice versa.
Though, I do have to say with AMC/Renault, both R&D groups actually after a while learned to play nice with each other and ended up with the Jeep Cherokee. Renault at the time could make real great lightweight bodies, while AMC could build bulletproof engines and suspensions.
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Let's look for a minute at timing. AMC was in trouble, Renault came along and infused capital, and a few existing cars (with minor U.S. mods) R5, R9 and the giant R12 or 16 Medallion wagon. Not great cars, but not as terrible as some. Longer parts availability would probably have helped.
Now Renault has bailed out Nissan, and has about? 1/2 ownership. Their management saved Nissan, and brought it some good platforms, Clio/Versa etc.
So consider this: If Renault had not financially rescued AMC, would it have been around for Chrysler to acquire? The Jeep, and Grand Cherokee (which came out in late '92 as a '93 model) was held up in getting produced, and was an AMC design. So between the Cherokees and other Jeeps when Chrysler acquired Jeep, (1987) and the (earlier) minivan, then the retro pickup in the early 90's, Chrysler pulled through. They should give credit where it's due.
Maybe AMC/Renault saved Chrysler, or where a major factor in keeping them afloat, then Daimler came along, now it's round three with Fiat. I love old Chryslers and Dodges, but they probably would have been De Sotoed long ago without outside help. Not forgetting Lee Iacocca's awesome rein, or the minivan Chrysler did on their own in '84.
My 1990 Cherokee was a parts bin special, half AMC, half Chrysler.
Now Fiat is rescuing them. This rant is not stated as fact, nor fiction, I believe it's not far off being accurate though. Plus there was that assassination thing, a whole other story.
From Wikipedia:
American Motors lost an estimated $65 million on its conventional (non-Jeep) cars for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1978, but strong Jeep sales helped the company to an overall $36.7 million profit on sales of $2.6 billion. However, AMC faced costly engineering work to bring their Jeeps into compliance with a federal directive for all 4-wheel-drive vehicles to average 15 mpg-US (16 L/100 km; 18 mpg-imp) by 1981.[33]
A year later, with its share of the American market at 1.83%, the company struck a deal with Renault, the nationally owned French automaker. AMC would receive a $150 million cash injection, $50 million in credits, and also the rights to start building the Renault 5 in 1982.[34] (A deal for Renault products to be sold through the AMC-Jeep dealer network had already been made in 1979.[35]) In return, Renault acquired a 22.5% interest in AMC.[34] This was not the first time the two companies had worked together. Lacking its own prestige model line in the early 1960s, Renault assembled CKD kits and marketed Rambler cars in France.[36]
In 1979, AMC announced a record $83.9 million profit on sales of $3.1 billion for the fiscal year ending in September—this despite an economic downturn, soaring energy prices, rising American unemployment, automobile plants shutting down, and an American market trend towards imported cars. In October, the company’s car sales surged 37%, while they sank 21% for the industry as a whole.[37]
However, a drop in Jeep sales caused by the declining economy and soaring energy prices began to constrict AMC’s cash flow. At the same time, pressure increased on the company’s non-Jeep product lines. The face-lifts and rebranding of AMC’s once-innovative and successful cars were not enough in a competitive landscape that had changed dramatically. No longer was the threat limited to the Big Three automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler). The Japanese used streamlined production methods such as outsourcing and Just In Time (JIT) supply-chain management. They had new, highly efficient assembly plants in the United States. And now they targeted the heart of AMC's passenger product line: small cars.
While Americans turned to the new imports in increasing numbers, AMC continued its struggle at the inefficient and aging Kenosha, Wisconsin facilities—the oldest continuously operating automobile plant in the world, where components and unfinished bodies still had to be transported across the city.
In early 1980, the banks refused AMC further credit. Lacking both capital and resources for the new, truly modern products it needed to offer, the company turned to Renault for a $90 million loan.
My sister is Charlotte Light and Dark. Who am I?
Farewell and thank you... "I was doing something that I thought could have some impact someday. In many ways, it's really these photographs that kept me going creatively." Dennis Hopper | |
I think if Renault did not take control of AMC, I have a feeling that AMC would of had a fire sale and the Jeep brand would of been sold to Chrysler anyways.
And yes, AMC/Renault did in fact save Chrysler along with Lee Iacocca. While many people are under the assumption that Mr. Iacocca just wanted the Jeep brand, he also wanted to purge Chrysler of all the stupidity that lead Chrysler to get a loan guarantee from the feds (something he wanted to do at Ford actually; purge stupid people who make stupid cars!).
So he dumped the old Chrysler product groups along with half the management and R&D team. He then replaced them with AMC's platform teams and staffed with them AMC people along with making the famous Francois Casting head of all product development. This is why today, you see sometimes "Jeep Truck Engineering" as the group responsible for development of new models of SUVs and Trucks at Chrysler.
And guess what? it worked! K-cars went to their second generation, Chrysler introduced the Grand Cherokee (the first all-Chrysler Jeep), the Neon was introduced, and then the LH-platform was developed and continues today as the LX platform.
I've heard joke was that the people they dumped at Chrysler ended up at Ford and came up with the Ford Taurus 
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I also like to add I think what kills most of these mergers is well differences in corporate cultures. DalmlerChrysler was a perfect example of this; both camps had almost the exact opposite ways of doing things and of course, the Germans wanted to convert everything to the German way. Everyone at Chrysler was highly resistant to any major attempts to do this and guess what products you end up with? The Liberty and the Crossfire, because no one wants to play with each other! And I don't blame them.
Now, I mentioned previously the Cherokee was probably the only new successful product at AMC/Renault where the two R&D teams learned the cooperate. That was learned after AMC and Renault decided to open up dialogue with their R&D teams of what went wrong with the Encore, Reliance, & Fuego. Thats where both sides realizes their own strengths and came together using that knowledge.
And fortunately, the engineers at Chrysler LLC are eager to work with the Fiat engineers so hopefully we can avoid mistakes like this.
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A Fiat store is coming to Cincy too.
The personal responsibility train left the station years ago, and you gave it the finger as you watched it leave. | |
to be honest with you, had AMC been able to secure capital to get through their last year and modernize on par with the other manufacturers, they would still be here. It was just timing. I disagree with Skelly on one point: Jeep. Chrysler wanted that name under their marquee. It was, believe it or not, a prestige brand. Look how quickly the other AMC models were shitcanned once Chrysler bought everything? How many AMC models can you name from 1987 without looking it up? The Eagle brand was nothing but a consolidation between the captive Mitsubishi, Renault and leftover AMC machines...
When the merger happened with Daimler, I knew Chrysler was in trouble. Daimler saw SUV and truck profits and it was an opportunity to get a toehold in that lucrative US market. Once they had merged, as Skelly had stated, there were two different cultures at work that were none too compatible. As a result, Chrysler's once interesting product line went to ho-hum and then downright atrocious. Designs were just... odd. Quality was back to 1970's standards. Fuel economy? What fuel economy? Just starting the engine on a Dodge truck or Jeep SUV guzzled about 1/4 of a tank! But, Daimler made out and skipped town with a ton of profit off the trucks and SUV's sold...
Fiat... Fiat Fiat Fiat... i still think their cars are weird looking. I'd have to drive one to have an intelligent opinion on them. Here's the thing; they didn't sell well 30 years ago. What makes them think that they're going to sell well now?
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Posted by Samurai
What makes them think that they're going to sell well now?
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Strategery. They're being VERY careful to launch only in cities that have had good sales of small cars (Fiesta, Focus, Mini, Cobalt, G5, Vibe/matrix, etc.).
Oddly enough, Rochester was pegged as one of their key upstate locations because of the high volume of small cars sold in this area. I'm pretty excited to see what that tiny little box has going for it, and I still think that Fiat's interest in Chrysler not as a money maker but as a brand with similar ideals (fuel economy not-withstanding) of providing a unique driving experience makes Fiat a great match for Chrysler.
Marchionne may be crazy, but he's the kind of businessman/entrepreneur who might be able to make something of Chrysler.
Me goin' legit would be like JarJar on speech therapy.
I'm on Flickr now! My Flickr Stream | I'm about as thick as a Bryk. | |
Posted by Samurai
Fiat... Fiat Fiat Fiat... i still think their cars are weird looking. I'd have to drive one to have an intelligent opinion on them. Here's the thing; they didn't sell well 30 years ago. What makes them think that they're going to sell well now?
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I drove this little thing up one side of Italy, and down the other, including a short bounce through the Alps (back roads) and Slovenia. Just about anyone on here who's seen more that a couple of my posts can tell you that I heavily favor big rear-drive sedans. Having said that I was kind of impressed with the Panda. It had a good ride for the size, was quiet, had a decent Blaupunkt sound system, and was every bit as maneuverable as it had to be for European city streets.
(It had this feature too)
From http://archive.car...nches/fiat/727.asp
The "city" button brings a specially-designed electronic steering system into action, and the wheel becomes immediately responsive to the mildest of turns. Unlike the hydraulic type of power assistance, this revolutionary bit of equipment offers two different steering settings.
The Panda is also apparently available as a 4X4.
The personal responsibility train left the station years ago, and you gave it the finger as you watched it leave. | |
The other AMC models got brushed away because Chrysler couldn't figure out where to put them in their lineup. But however, they didn't exactly die; Iacocca was impressed with the engineering though on the Eagle Premiere he asked the Premiere team to develop a new platform...the LH platform!
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yeah cause the LH platform was mind blowing
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