Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) expects the Fiat 500X crossover to be even more popular in North America than the 500 city car.
According to FCA senior executives, the 500X has a very important advantage for US customers compared to the 500 – its size. It will be aimed at customers looking for a larger car than the tiny 500.
“If you look at the 500, the number one reason for rejection is the size of the vehicle. We no longer have that. Our expectations would be to outsell the 500,” Jason Stoicevich, head of Fiat in North America, was quoted as saying by Reuters at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
However, the executive declined to give specific sales targets. The Fiat 500X will be launched in 100 countries, and the United States is expected to be one of its major markets. North American sales of the Fiat 500X will begin in the second quarter of next year.
At the moment, North America makes up just 60,000 of Fiat’s 1.6 million in annual vehicle sales, a figure Fiat brand’s global chief Olivier Francois described as “marginal.” However, in the case of the 500X volumes won’t be marginal, the executive said. The crossover’s case will also be helped by its optional all-wheel drive system, especially in the U.S. Northeast which typically gets snowy winters.
Fiat returned to the U.S. market in 2011, after a 16-year absence. Sales of its best-selling model, the 500, reached a maximum in 2012 and fell 18 percent last year. Overall sales for the Fiat brand were down 1.2 percent in 2013.
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