Sorry, America, This Potentially Popular Fiat Pickup Isn't for You: Fiat Chrysler Design Head

by Steph Willems

February 10th, 2017 9:45 AM

sorry america this potentially popular fiat pickup isn t for you fiat chrysler

Ralph Gilles, global design head for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, just loves the little Fiat Toro pickup. He can’t get enough of it.

Unfortunately for FCA, and especially the Fiat brand, Americans certainly can say “no” to FCA models adorned with a classic Italian badge. Fiat, which returned to these shores just six short years ago, is floundering in North America, so ears perked up in Chicago yesterday when Gilles seemed to imply the brand might introduce a life-saving model into the U.S. market.

Alas, the company appears to have no intention of trying something desperate to stop the sales bleeding.

The Fiat Toro, a cute little four-door unibody pickup with an odd face, rides atop the same platform as the Jeep Renegade and next-generation Compass. In Latin America, it’s the pickup people want (and can afford).

While speaking at the Chicago Auto Show, Gilles stated, “You’re going to be seeing more from Fiat on the truck side, especially.”

Say what? The brand most famous for the Fiat 500 — a car you could hide by standing in front of it and unbuttoning your coat — will start flinging trucks everywhere? Maybe in America’s direction? Could the unibody Honda Ridgeline gain a midsize competitor?

Hold your horses, said Gilles, after the speculation machine began venting steam.

“I must clear something up from this morning “I meant I Love the new 2017 Toro sold in Latin America, no plans to sell in the U.S,” Gilles tweeted shortly after making the statement.

I must clear something up from this morning "I meant I Love the new 2017 Toro sold in Latin America, no plans to sell in the U.S pic.twitter.com/aeChtwTTeD

— Ralph Gilles (@RalphGilles) February 9, 2017

Now, many will point out Gilles only said Fiat won’t bring Toro to the U.S., thus leaving the door open for the possibility that other Fiat trucks might. Of course, to pull it off, FCA would somehow need to sidestep the much-loathed chicken tax if any pickup were built outside of the current NAFTA nations.

Midsize trucks are a growing segment in the American automotive landscape, ruled by the Toyota Tacoma and Chevrolet Colorado/ GMC Canyon twins, but eyed greedily by others. The Ford Ranger will return for 2019. Fiat, as it turns out, sells the midsize, body-on-frame Fullback pickup (essentially, a rebadged Mitsubishi Triton/L200) in Europe and a slew of overseas countries, but FCA has never breathed a word about that model making it to North America.

Basically, we’re left hanging here. The adorable little Toro and its two-piece tailgate will not spur a unibody pickup sales war with Honda, and Fiat, by all available evidence, will continue to struggle and slip on the sales charts.

According to trade publication Automotive News‘ product chart, the only new offering we can expect from Fiat in the foreseeable future is a refreshed 500X in 2019. Besides that, tumbleweeds. Meanwhile, Fiat started off the new year in poor form, logging only 2,164 sales in the U.S. in January. Compare that to the 2,594 sales in January 2016, and 3,255 sales in January 2015.

The brand’s sales plateaued almost immediately after its U.S. rebirth, reaching a “high” point of 46,121 units in 2014. Last year’s tally was 32,742. If the Toro isn’t coming, what will Fiat offer consumers to reverse its death plunge?

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

#America #ChicagoAutoShow #Fca #Fiat #FiatChryslerAutomobiles #FiatPickup #FiatToro #Pickup #RalphGilles

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9 of 89 comments

Jeff S on Feb 11, 2017

An extended cab with a little longer bed would be better. I agree with one of the comments above that if this were marketed as a Fiat in the US it would be better not to call it a Toro because it might be identified with a lawn mower even though Toro is meant to be bull. I doubt we will ever see this in the US.

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- Lorenzo on Feb 11, 2017
  
  Maybe they should just put out a two door regular cab with a full box off the Renegade. All the landscapers' Rangers aren't going to last forever.
  
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DenverMike on Feb 11, 2017

Bottom line, it has to sell well, chicken tax or no. It's possible in theory, especially listening to the Vulpii demographic, but highly unlikely. The Subaru Baja was a slow selling disaster, but there's another huge expense. The Baja likely divided up buyers that would've bought a new (highly profitable) Forester or other Subaru anyway. Meaning there's a point of diminishing returns. Despite outcry, VW has 5 or 6 cars it flat-out refuses to sell in America. Why? Why offer VW buyers 18 completely different car choices on VW showrooms, when they can offer 12 (of the most profitable) and sell almost as many cars? Small pickups had their day in America. We moved on. We demand 4 doors/4 seaters, with a bed that's not a complete joke. If there's just room for luggage or groceries or dogs (remember when people could ride in pickup beds?), why have them exposed?

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- See 5 previous
- Pete Zaitcev on Feb 11, 2017
  
  Actually, about that... VW has Amarok, which is a much better truck than Toro. And yet, they aren't selling it here. A 25% tax? Puleeeze. With that prices oscillating as they are, of course they'll find buyers. Look how overpriced Tiguan is, and people still buy it.
  
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- Vulpine on Feb 11, 2017
  
  Strangely, Denver Mike, you said practically the exact same thing about the Chevy Colorado during the two years leading up to its release. If you were so wrong about that truck, what makes you so sure you're right about this one?
  
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- DenverMike on Feb 11, 2017
  
  @Vulpine There's a built-in market for real, BOF midsize pickups. These are something completely different, except for a pickup bed, so to speak. The Colorado/Canyon and the upsurge in the midsize pickup surprised everyone, not just me. I figured they'd severely cannibalize the Tacoma. They didn't. A few years ago, Ford said the Ranger was only for the global market. Look at them now. Tiguan sales are something VW may be protecting by not selling the Amarok here. Every VW sold in Mexico and around the world, and not sold here, would harm the sales/profits of VWs that are sold here, some of which are very profitable, despite the TDI fiasco.
  
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- Lorenzo on Feb 11, 2017
  
  @DenverMike Volkswagen is a special case, for obvious reasons. But there's also a built-in market for a REAL, unibody FWD El Camino-type too. Just don't get hung up on box size or payload. The reason the El Camino and Ranchero were popular is because Dad "couldn't" bring the kids and mother-in-law with him on errands. That chore got left to the wife and the family sedan.
  
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- Vulpine on Feb 11, 2017
  
  @DenverMike "The Colorado/Canyon and the upsurge in the midsize pickup surprised everyone, not just me." No, they didn't surprise everyone; they only surprised those who thought they knew everything there was to know about the market. I do know that a true compact pickup would sell enough to be kept on the market. Sure, it won't compete in numbers with the full sized trucks but it would pull a decent chunk out of the compact to mid-sized CUV/SUV market and maybe eat away at some of the mid-sized truck market.
  
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- DenverMike on Feb 12, 2017
  
  @Vulpine "...it would pull a decent chunk out of the compact to mid-sized CUV/SUV market and maybe eat away at some of the mid-sized truck market." That's a big part of the problem. OK, maybe FCA has nothing to lose, but normal OEMs don't want a low-volume compact trucklette, perhaps trendy and interesting when 1st introduced (as was the BRAT, VW wabbitruck, Baja, Rampage, etc) on the same showroom and competing against their proven bread & butter cars, and or midsize pickup. I said I was surprised by the midsize truck "upsurge". But you can't exactly say you "called it" either. Except I can dig up a video interview of a Ford marketing exec saying (I'm paraphrasing here), the Ranger was only for the world/global market, and the F-150 for America *only*. He was questioned if the F-150 would ever be sold in Australia (despite strong Oz demand), and responded by saying the Ranger and F-150 were specifically designed for the markets currently in.
  
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