Fiat’s 500 sales in North America will likely fall short of the initial target of 50,000 units in 2011, because of the delays in opening new stores. Currently, the brand has opened 100 out of the 130 stores planned for the US this year.
The Italian company chose to open new stores instead of using the existing Chrysler dealer network, in order to differentiate its niche product. However, the original plan, which called for most delaers to be operational by February, failed since at that time only about a dozen were ready.
This, according to Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America, was due to the dealers waiting longer than anticipated for the government permits. Soave admits that “We lost the whole first quarter”.
“We have coverage now, so it is time for us to turn this up. We ‘ve already activated the smaller guerilla-type marketing, but there are bigger events that will get us bigger awareness,” Soave added.
Since the 500 went on sale in North America it has proven to be a hit: 7,982 units were sold in the US so far, with 3,038 delivered in July alone. Canada is also a successful market for the stylish Italian city car, with 3,064 sales from March until July.
Fiat intends to make up for the lost time with no less than 500 (!) marketing efforts, ranging from placing 36 cars in Times Square and inviting people to watch movies in the jumbotron, to launching a new iPad application.
Story sources: Bloomberg News
PHOTO GALLERY
