Sergio Marchionne Confirms Third Fiat Model By 2014 – But Only For Canada
Our intrepid Brazilian correspondent Marcelo got the hearts of Canuckistani readers racing after he leaked news of an expanded Fiat lineup for Canada. According to Senhor de Vasconcellos, Fiat will add new product in Canada, where 500 sales have been much stronger than the USA. The only question is what the mystery product will be, now that Fiat head Sergio Marchionne confirmed the new model at a Toronto event.
The Globe and Mail reported a whole slew of new products, stating
Marcelo’s artcile named the next generation Punto and Panda will be heading to Canada, with the 500L’s late 2012 debut coming first. Next will be the Polish Italian-built Panda, followed by the next generation Punto, if the information is accurate. The 143.7 inch Panda is actually a little longer than the 500 (139.6 inches) and has 5-doors – by comparison, a 5-door Toyota Yaris is about 10 inches longer than the Panda. Nevertheless, Canadians in urban locales absolutely adore small cars, foreign cars and anything with a “premium” image, like the Mini and the Fiat 500. The Panda, if priced right, would be a good bridge between the 500 and the much larger, Mini Countryman-sized 500L. Even better would be the new Punto, which could give the Volkswagen Golf a good run for the money. Memo to Fiat – bring diesels here. Close to half of all VW’s sold here are TDIs. We will buy them.
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Any talk of Canadian sales figures and the differences between the market here in and the market in the US inevitably gets skewed by the asymmetrical urban/rural divide. Something like 80% of Canadians live in cities, and for reasons of practicality (parking, fuel economy, etc.) those people do buy a lot of Fits and Golfs and Civics. At the same time, however, the fact remains that once you're outside of the major cities, the Canadian market is almost identical to the US market. In my hometown in southwestern Ontario, the best selling vehicles (just hazarding a guess here, of course) would likely be the F150, Silverado/Sierra, Impala, Ford Fusion, and then maybe a Civic or Corolla. The cities aren't representative of the way the rest of the country feels (or chooses to spend its money.)
Encouraging that Fiat is giving some preference to the Canadian market, allowing it to grow in some ways that are different from the US market. (Sergio Marchionne was brought up in Canada - nice that we get some recognition.) The Big 3, with some exceptions, have usually treated the local market as an extension of the US, even though local preferences were quite distinct. Smaller cars and hatchbacks have always sold better here. Even Honda has starved us of appropriate models - giving us the Ridgeline and the Odyssey, when we really wanted the Fit. PS In the classic definition - "first world" was NATO, "second world" represented the Soviet Union and its allies including China, "third world" were the non-aligned nations.