Sergio: I Saw The Drop Coming, And Don't Worry, It Will Get Worse
New car registrations in Italy fell 18.9 percent in September to 154,429 vehicles. Of course that means major pain for Fiat, which holds about 30 percent of the market. Actually, more than major pain: Fiat’s sales in their home market cratered by 26.3 percent to just 44,161 vehicles in September. That according to Transport Ministry data, published by Reuters. And what did Sergio Marchionne have to say to that disaster?
He had known it all along. “The figures were completely in line with expectations,” Marchionne told reporters. “The market is looking for stability, and until the process of getting supply and demand into line is completed, we will continue to suffer.”
According to Sergio, lower range models suffer the most. When will it get better? Not anytime soon: “We’ll probably have to wait until 2011 to see a pick-up in demand.”
With the rest of Europe likewise in tatters, and with no China that saves the bacon of German makers, Fiat is in a world of hurt. But never mind, it’s hurt that came expected. Maybe it will be time to wear two sweaters for a while.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Now let's hope that VW doesn't take advantage of Fiat's problems as they escalate by trying to get their hands on Alfa Romeo...
No, they don't have China, but they have Brazil. The volumes can't be compared but still. And Brazil is growing. The US is improving too.
I am genuinely surprised they haven't cratered even further. I like their cars but they seem to be bent of self destruction. Some five or so years ago they were on the roll but look at their Euro lineup now: 1. panda - excellent car and used to be cash cow but now something like 7 years old and the speculative replacements I have seen in the magazines look terrible compared to the current car 2. grande punto - used to be the best looking supermini but terribly uglified with the evo restyle and i am sure the sales fell in Italy, of course the style is the most important thing there 3. bravo - nice compact which I personally like but cannot fit inside. medium success 4. sedici - rebadge of suzuki sx4, failure 5. croma - mpv/estate cross, total failure 6. 500 - real success but a premium city car by definition does not sell in huge numbers Also lately Alfa MiTo and Giulietta are nice cars but prevalent opinion is that they look worse than 147 and having seen one red Giulietta on the street yesterday I must agree. Finally an Alfa which in practical sense can cope with the best but then fails on the looks. Crazy! It may be Fiat has been concentrating effort on making the Chrysler thing work and also we should not forget they now have some of the best if not the best small petrol and diesel engines in the world and their cars are now way better built and more reliable than just half a decade ago but still, Italian cars with no style miss the point.