Coming to America!

[Frank Lee]

I hope the markets ie: consumer confidence in big ticket purchases, and fuel prices high enough to make dumb American slobs consider something other than SUVs, are such that this is successful.

[Christ]

Needs 4 smaller doors rather than 2 medium ones.

Make the front doors about 2/3 of what they are, then extend the rear doors back over the rear wheel openings, like a standard 4 door... would probably gain in popularity with a 4 door model.

If it's not capable of at least 50 MPG, though, its' just not worth it (Price not considered)... there are other options that are much larger (by perception) and get the same economy figures.

[cfg83]

Frank -

Ha ha, every time I tried to hold my breath earlier this year, I ended up in the hospital. With today's news it looks to be 99.999% real. I did some googling and found out this detail :

Fiat 500 coming in 2011, will be the only Fiat badged car in Chrysler dealerships - egmCarTech

The Fiat 500 will be the only Fiat-derived vehicle that will be sold at Chrysler dealerships badges as a Fiat.

CarloSW2

[UfoTofU]

On the front page of Yahoo! Fiat: Chrysler's Italian Style. It says next year too

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Christ

If it's not capable of at least 50 MPG, though, its' just not worth it (Price not considered)... there are other options that are much larger (by perception) and get the same economy figures.

And so? Are you still so stuck on Detroit's "Americans want big cars" meme that you can't accept the idea that there really are people who prefer smaller cars? I'm one: give me a choice between two with identical price, performance, fuel economy &c, and I'll take the smaller one.

[MetroMPG]

Something to give the smart a run for its money. How many smarts have been sold in the US? Anyone know?

Looks like they moved 20k of them in their first 10 months of sales in 2008. But we all know last year was probably not the best year to base projections on (fuel prices).

smart USA sells fortwo number 20,000

[MazdaMatt]

Any word on quality for that model? All I've ever heard about fiat is "Fix It Again, Tony" and "Rust proofing is not an issue with Fiats; the major systems are painstakingly engineered to completely fall apart before rust can settle in". I'm totally uneducated in that brand.

[MetroMPG]

Matt, I think you've hit the nail on the head - North American's perceptions of Fiats are based on bad cars from a long time ago. Something they'll have to tackle aggressively in terms of marketing.

My family had a Fiat when I was a kid. I was too young to really remember it other than it was white with black vinyl seats. Apparently my dad ran it out of oil on the highway one day. Sold it to my uncle who rebuilt the engine and used it as his college car.

[jkp1187]

But are they going to bring the Fiat 500 Abarth along with it? A fast, sporty little car that still gets 40 MPG?

Jeremy Clarkson seemed to like it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXALDprqcuc

[Peter7307]

Originally Posted by Christ

Needs 4 smaller doors rather than 2 medium ones.

Make the front doors about 2/3 of what they are, then extend the rear doors back over the rear wheel openings, like a standard 4 door... would probably gain in popularity with a 4 door model.

If it's not capable of at least 50 MPG, though, its' just not worth it (Price not considered)... there are other options that are much larger (by perception) and get the same economy figures.

The car is physically fairly small and putting four doors would make it very difficult to get in and out hence the two door decision.

They are sold here and fuel economy is very good up around the 50 US MPG range depending on the model.

It is aimed very much at the trendy latte drinking crowd and not at the serious ecomiler but getting into the US market may bring about a change of market placement.

One of the very few cars you get out of with a big smile on your face.

Pete.