Ok, so who lives in Detroit and is ready to order? "Chrysler beings picking dealers to sell Fiat 500 in United States AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) - Chrysler has begun picking the dealers who will be selling Fiat brand automobiles in the United States. Three dealerships in our [Detroit] area have been picked. They are Carl Galeana , Bill Golling and David Fischer. Galeana will have its Fiat dealership in its Saturn of Lakeside location. That Saturn store was slated to close at the end of next week. Golling Chrysler Jeep of Bloomfield was also selected. The third dealership was awarded to Suburban Chrysler Jeep. These are the dealers that will be selling the American version of the Fiat 500 subcompact. They are the first in what Chrysler is hoping will be a wave of Fiat selling dealerships in 119 markets across the United States." http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/money/auto_n...-united-states Also, went to Port Newark today to pick up a car for a friend from the UK. Saw this on the lot. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am sure the one I saw today is some private owner's car they had shipped over. Since it was left hand drive, someone other than from the UK. I don't know who or why, but I bet it won't be for sale.
+1, We rented one when we were in Italy and Switzerland last month and really enjoyed the car. It was a lot of fun to drive, got great mpg and had more than enough room for the 2 of us and our luggage. I would love to have one as a daily commuter car if I knew that it would be reliable for the long term.
I wonder will you guys be this excited if the Alfa Mito makes it here. I can attest that its nice and great on gas at the Abarth I drove was
"Chrysler expects to sell 50,000 Fiat units in 2011 in the United States, growing to a peak of about 78,000 in 2013. For comparison, Mini sold 54,077 U.S. units in 2008 before the recession. The showroom will be called the Fiat Studio and will be "inspired by modern Italian design." The company is urging dealers to "be creative" in submitting proposals. Under Chrysler's guidelines, each store will have 20 to 37 employees, depending on the size of the dealership, dedicated to Fiat alone. Chrysler believes Fiat customers will "have a strong appreciation of design, style and fashion. They have a strong appreciation of Italy and Italian culture."
Yes. They had waiting lists in Europe (different market, I know, but still...) and a waiting list for for the first allocation here in the USA already.
Got an email from a friend today: "Hey Sam, saw these approx. a couple of weeks ago, about 7am, downtown NYC..." Thanks, J! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Are those Prima Ediziones for charity auction? On a side note, does anyone know how tall is "too tall" to drive one of these.........?
No, probably not, since the Prima Ediziones are all sport models only (like the second car in the pic). I think anyone that can fit in any other car can fit in the 500 (front seats)
any idea if other cars might make it to the US. i wouldnt mind replacing my rabbit commuter car with a fiat punto evo essesse
Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_46/b4203024823719.htm Fiat's New Uphill Climb in the U.S. With the 500 subcompact, it makes an auspicious return to the Statesbut it's a crowded market By Tim Higgins Sam Germana, a lawyer who bought his first Fiat in 1982, still has fond memories of la dolce vita behind the wheel of his Italian import. So he jumped at the chance to plop down $500 to reserve a special first-edition version of the 500, the tiny car Fiat hopes will make a big splash as the brand returns to the U.S. market this winter. Germana, who lives on New York's Long Island and commutes to New Jersey for work, has driven the European version and figures it will be perfect for his daily commute. "The Fiat is put together like a Toyota (TM), it is really solid," Germana says of his test drive. "It was a blast to drive." Fiat hopes there are many more customers who fondly recall the sporty Fiat image of bygone daysand are willing to forget reliability problems that plagued the automaker (some owners said its name stood for Fix It Again, Tony) before it pulled out of the U.S. market in 1983. The Fiat 500 subcompact, known as the Cinquecento in Italy, has already sold 500,000 units since 2007 in other parts of the world. Its U.S. starting price is expected to be about $15,000. Fiat hopes to sell 50,000 of the tiny fuel misers in its first year in the U.S. (no mileage rating has been determined yet), mostly in urban areas where traffic and scant parking make small cars attractive. The Fiat brand's return to North America comes about 18 months after the Turin-based automaker gained control of Chrysler Group. The U.S. company's infrastructure is key to the effort: The 500 will be built at a Chrysler factory near Mexico City, starting in December, and it tapped existing Chrysler dealers to open new Fiat showrooms. Chrysler has hired a marketing executive from Volkswagen, Laura J. Soave, a first-generation Italian American, to help translate the feeling of the Fiat brand to U.S. car buyers. Soave, who has a picture of herself visiting Italy as a small child, standing atop a Fiat, has been working on a grassroots marketing campaign to build support among longtime Fiat fans. She showed up in July in Asheville, N.C., for an annual gathering of Fiat-Lancia Unlimited, which claims to be the largest Fiat enthusiast group in North America. She's since donated a Fiat 500 to the National Italian American Foundation for a fundraiser. Chrysler declined to make Soave available for an interview in advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month, where the Fiat 500's U.S. version will be displayed. Two people familiar with her efforts say she'll concentrate on developing "experiential" marketing of the car, mostly in showrooms through high-service selling that focuses on adding options to let buyers personalize their cars. Rather than broad advertising pitches, they say she's likely to use social media and other grassroots approaches to target likely buyers and lure them into showrooms for individual treatment. "My ultimate goal would be not to spend one dollar in traditional advertising," says Phil Bivens, a Tacoma (Wash.) dealer who will open a Fiat store. Fiat faces plenty of obstacles, analysts say. The small car is being introduced into a market crowded with competitors, including the new Ford (F) Fiesta and General Motors' upcoming Chevrolet Spark. While researcher IHS Automotive (IHS) predicts the U.S. subcompact market will grow 150 percent to more than 1 million by the end of 2015, IHS analyst Rebecca Lindland cautions that the growth is being pushed not by consumer demand, but by automakers' beliefs that small cars will become more popular. "Everyone is tooled up for this, and everyone is all excited about consumers buying small carsexcept consumers," Lindland says. European competitors such as Daimler's Smart and BMW's Mini small cars have seen sales fall lately. Smart sales have plunged 61 percent so far this year from the year-earlier period. Mini sales are down 1.6 percent, according to researcher Autodata. Fiat decided to eschew selling Fiat vehicles next to Chrysler's Ram pickups and Jeep SUVs and now must quickly and smoothly open about 165 showrooms. "You had to get into a building, a separate establishment" for a Fiat dealership, where somebody could come in and truly feel like they were at an Apple (AAPL) store, says Fred M. Diaz, Chrysler's lead sales executive. Adds Tacoma dealer Bivens: "The Italian style and design and fashion will all play a clear role in who we hire and how we train them and how they communicate. It will not be a traditional car dealership experience." The bottom line: A quarter-century after it pulled out of the U.S. market, Fiat is back with a small car built and sold with the help of its partner, Chrysler.
I received an e-mail from Fiat titled "First look at your Fiat 500 Prima Edizione" It says ".....You are one of the lucky 500 people to claim the FIAT 500 Prima Edizione.* Yes, there is one reserved just for you. A true collector's dream. Thank you for your deposit. You'll be receiving specific information about your FIAT 500 Prima Edizione very soon. Take your first peek at the Prima Edizione below. Look for the official reveal of the FIAT 500 U.S. model at the LA Auto Show on November 17, 2010. And be part of history in the making. ...." And includes a tiny (!) picture of what the car will look like apparently. Looks good so far, but not a lot of info.
My first car was a 1976 Fiat 131 sedan, followed up by a 1981 (82?)Strada....the fuel injection in the strada transformed the driveability of the car and I had over 100K miles on the car with just regular maintenance. The 131, due to smog equipment, carbs and battering ram bumpers never idled smoothly and always felt underpowered. I drove a 500 in Italy in '09 and came away very impressed, especially with the build quality. It was my cousin's car and she had zero problems with it. However, that was a different car in that the US market, for once, will get the new series first. What will really make the car a winner is if gas goes up to $4+/gallon, then they won't be able to build them fast enough...
Yes, we got that too! We ordered in red and so the little pic is in red. Also shows a black side stripe. Wonder if that is standard... "You'll be receiving specific information about your FIAT 500 Prima Edizione very soon." Wonder what "very soon" means to Italians? I think you can count on it.
Hmm I wondered the same about the stripe, as mine shows the same. I attached the picture. One thing I noticed is they say: "Actual purchase agreement must be signed with dealer by 12/31/10." So I would think that news should be coming quickly. One issue I have is I will need to get rid of one car in order to take the 500. I wonder if they will do trade-ins (?). Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes, seems by the end of next month we will have a good idea of what's up. I am 99.99% sure they will take traded ins. They are still car dealers! Image Unavailable, Please Login
