This Stings: Coronavirus Comes for the Fiat 500L

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Of all the production upsets born of coronavirus-caused supply chain disruptions, the idling of Fiat Chrysler’s Kragujevac, Serbia assembly plant is certainly not near the top. Not for American consumers, anyway.

The automaker announced Friday that the plant, home to the unloved Fiat 500L, will be offline until sometime late in the month. If U.S. inventory suffered, would anyone notice?

As reported by Reuters, Kragujevac will have to postpone downtime already scheduled for the plant. The dried-up components sourced from a virus-hit China include electronic parts, among them audio equipment.

Local media states that Kragujevac used just 25 percent of its available capacity last year, making it a serious underperformer — much like the model it produces.

While FCA discontinued the current-generation Fiat 500 in the U.S. for 2020, the ungainly 500L continues for the current model year. The brand’s future in the North American market looks exceedingly grim; current product plans, as well as FCA execs, don’t have much to say about what we can expect from the brand in the next year or two.

Just how unpopular is the Fiat 500L? By far the slowest-selling model in the brand’s meager lineup, the 500L found just 166 buyers in the fourth quarter of 2019. Full-year sales amounted to 771 vehicles, which was down 45 percent from 2018. The previous year’s sales were down 15 percent from the year before that. A trend, one might say.

In Canada last month, 500L sales rose 100 percent, year over year… because the country’s dealers sold one. Full-year totals for 2019 show Canadians bought 12 500Ls, down eight percent (one vehicle) from 2018.

So, while the shuttering of the Serbian FCA plan won’t have much of an impact on the automaker’s bottom line, and certainly won’t disrupt dealer activity in this continent, it is notable for being the first instance of a European plant shutting down due to the viral outbreak.

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 13 comments
  • Lstanley Lstanley on Feb 14, 2020

    "If U.S. inventory suffered, would anyone notice?" Yes, I was planning on buying 17 Fiat 500Ls in March.

    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Feb 14, 2020

      Chances are, there will be at least that many available on dealer lots near you. They might even give you a volume discount.

  • Sgeffe Sgeffe on Feb 14, 2020

    At the auto show last weekend, the one Fiat there was a Fiata Abarth. Mazda didn’t even have a Miata on hand! My church’s music director and his wife are the ultimate “orphan” owners — his a first-generation smart fortwo, hers a reasonably nice-looking Fiat 500 in dark blue over gray interior.

    • Jack4x Jack4x on Feb 14, 2020

      Wow, do they just never need to carry another person or anything bigger than a carryon bag?

  • 3-On-The-Tree I’m sure they are good vehicles but you can’t base that on who is buying them. Land Rovers, Bentley’ are bought by Robin Leaches’s “The Rich and Famous” but they have terrible reliability.
  • SCE to AUX The fix sounds like a bandaid. Kia's not going to address the defective shaft assemblies because it's hard and expensive - not cool.
  • Analoggrotto I am sick and tired of every little Hyundai Kia Genesis flaw being blown out of proportion. Why doesn't TTAC talk about the Tundra iForce Max problems, Toyota V35A engine problems or the Lexus 500H Hybrid problems? Here's why: education. Most of America is illiterate, as are the people who bash Hyundai Kia Genesis. Surveys conducted by credible sources have observed a high concentration of Hyundai Kia Genesis models at elite ivy league universities, you know those places where students earn degrees which earn more than $100K per year? Get with the program TTAC.
  • Analoggrotto NoooooooO!
  • Ted “the model is going to be almost 4 inches longer and 2 inches wider than its predecessor”Size matters. In this case there is 6” too much.
Next