It'll be a shame if they do go bump as they do actually make cars that are fun to drive and are reasonably priced. I think having alfa in the stable has strangled their choices as they can't make their cars too sporty because they would be competing directly with alfa. You only have to look how asthmatic the stilo abarth is compared to how it should be. It's the same price as a honda civic type r and is a smidge quicker than a 20v 2 litre marea weekend! They should get a relationship going between fiat and lancia which is similar to toyota and lexus.
Fiat will survive even if the Italian government have to bale them out, imho.
teabelly
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I agree with Volvoman, their products are absolute tat, with build quality worse than French cars,- and their build is appalling . Fiat have lost a fortune in their last trading year, and there were rumours that they were seeking to link up with G.M. There is no way they will survive without linking up with another manufacturer, but which one would be crazy enough to take them on !!!
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All the cars have galvanised bodies, so they no longer rust. Which is more than you can say for a Ford.
However that does not stop the rest of car going wrong. The design/look of the cars is amongst the best, sadly let down by poor finish and reliability.
Maybe fiat needs a good shake up to improve the above, though I think they will be around in 10 years time cause the italians will always drive them and the Italian Government will always bale them out.
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"the italians will always drive them"
But market share in Italy at 30%, used to be 70%
That suggests Italians don't want to drive them anymore, or ?!?
"and the Italian Government will always bale them out."
No longer allowed, mega mega EU barney if they do.
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>>No longer allowed, mega mega EU barney if they do.
Tell the French Government and France Telecom that.
I suspect that they would find a way of bailing Fiat out if they needed to.
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30% market share sounds like a fairly large market share (though not so good when it was 70%). 30% of any market sounds pretty healthy to me, I wonder what percentage the other brands have in this market.
If Rover can (just) survive in the UK I am sure that Fiat can in Italy given the right management.
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Can they survive on their own? I'd say 50:50. Can they survive by GM/another company buying a bigger share? Very likely. Although GM don't seem to be making a lot of enthusiastic noises about this option, I reckon they'll go for trying to protect their existing investment rather than cutting their losses. Who knows - maybe Fiat will be bought by Kia.
Interestingly, Fiat have one of the worst reputations for reliability. Yet last year they were measured (not voted) as the second most reliable European brand of the 20 most popular in the UK, after Volvo who IIRC came sixth overall. This wasn't a satisfaction survey (which IMHO are usually based at least partly on subjective input) but the findings of one of the big warranty companies (pretty sure it was Warranty Direct) and was based on their statistics for a very substantial number of warranty claims, something like 10000. It was also done on a pro rata basis, ie X out of every 100 Fiat/Volvo/Toyota cars were claimed on. (Of course, the Japanese makes blew raspberries all over the Europeans.) There was an age limit too, AFAIK, so they were all within 4 years of manufacture. Fiat beat Ford, Mercedes, VW and BMW in that one. Hmm - do I want a Stilo after all? ......
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Bit of a waste of time galvanising cars that fall apart before rust has a chance to set in ! :-)
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VW/Audi group are reported to be interested in buying upto 49% share of Ferrari/Maserati/Alfa romeo.
Fiat have some very strong competiton these days. If i was looking for a cheap sporty car then Seat would be top of my list.Would be interesting to know where the 40% went...
Currently the Punto is the only good retail bet, all the others Stilo/Multipla/Marea have no image or driver appeal. Why did they not replace the Coupe ? .....
As for the EU stopping the Italian goverment bailing out Fiat ... i would like to see them try ! (the British are the only ones in Europe who actually obey the rules).
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The cars are much better now, but they`ve alienated too many of their customers over the years with appaling aftersales, to the point where ex Fiat owners would not ever consider one again no matter what! They will survive though.
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