Fiat News: Sergio Marchionne Says Fiat 500 Sales Target Was “Incredibly Naive”

[William Maley]

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 17, 2012

You have to wonder what Sergio Marchionne was thinking when he set a goal of 50,000 500s to be sold for 2011. Marchionne said he was "incredibly naive" to pick that goal.

Fiat only sold 19,769 500s for 2011 (39.5% difference). So what was Marchionne thinking when he came up with that number. In a interview with CNN Money, Marchionne said the goal wasn’t based on anything but wanting to beat Mini, noting sales for the Mini brand totaled 45,644 vehicles.

“It was a number that we said would be in excess of what Mini was selling in the United States. It was that simple,” Marchionne said.

Critics point out that Fiat's first-year goal was ambitious to a fault and that Mini was able to reach their 40k+ vehicles sold thanks to the brand being sold in the U.S. for 10 years. Marchionne said "we set ourselves up for a fall," but insists that the future of Fiat in the U.S. is still very strong.

Source: CNN Money

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[Intrepidation]

50k was overly optimistic but 20k isn't bad at all considering the issues they had had between getting the dealer network going, supply, and a terrible advertising campaign.

[ocnblu]

It's a cute li'l puddle jumper. I've seen maybe half a dozen around my area, but never the interior in person.

[Drew Dowdell]

That is very respectible sales for a car that didn't even get into the dealer networks in any volume till mid summer. Had the dealers been fully deployed and fully stocked Jan 1, 2011, I bet they could have done double that.

[balthazar]

I agree with the above posts: the volume isn't that bad... Question is, does 19K include a bunch of 1st yr impulse sales that won't show up for yr 2?

[regfootball]

really not bad at all but yeah the target was optimistic...despite the gaffes that did well all things considered.

[Drew Dowdell]

Which reminds me, I need to get one as a press car at some point and have albert model it.

[Camino LS6]

Having only seen 2 so far, the fact that they sold almost 20k is a surprise to me.

[thedriver]

For instance there are NO dealers -excuse me STUDIOS- in my state at all. I LIKE the cars, but I will not buy something that I cannot have serviced in less than a day's drive. This IS the 21st century after all, not the late 1800's...

[SAmadei]

Having only seen 2 so far, the fact that they sold almost 20k is a surprise to me.

I agree. I only saw two and both were in juxapostion to a Chrysler dealership that is apparently selling FIATs,,,

[67impss]

Saw my third yday I just thought it was a local depressed market thing?

[SAmadei]

Update... the 500 is starting to become much more popular in Brooklyn/NYC. I think I've seen about 8 in the last couple days. Brings my total to 11. The yellow one really popped. Still looking for an Abarth.

[loki]

i've only seen 1 in my area.