My local dealer has switched to Lexus.
Salesman who sold me my Panda 4x4 saw the writing on the wall months ago. He showed me his notebook with a long list of loyal repeat customers who wanted a new Panda. All Fiat could offer them instead was a £30K electric 500.
Doomed.
I wonder what Fiat (FCA)'s game plan was had the Stellantis merger not happened. Maybe we'd already have electric (relatively) lower cost models of the Panda already.
Fiat doesn't seem to learn... 500, Panda -
best sellers in all of Europe, nobody can outsell them Punto also a big name / best seller until some idiot decided that 0 stars were a valid safety rating. 500L, Tipo - unique
bigger models with a lot of design put into them commercial failures.
Not sure how well the 500X did but there's much stiffer competition now in crossovers than 2015 and technically, if I were a buyer, it's the only model with the kit and tech I'd want without compromising.
Why don't they just nail small cars? Like the 2003 Panda. 2011 Panda is selling well to this day in Europe too. They
can do it. We
will buy it. And we're not a niche market. And they've shown they don't need to reinvent the wheel to do so.
I'm as pro-capitalism as anyone with a working brain, and I get that the shareholders probably wanted some dream where Fiat was the best seller in every market segment, but no company can claim that - or even close. Even VAG have to dress the same car up (and down *cough Skoda cough*) four times to achieve their great sales numbers.
But all that R&D that went into trying to sell bigger models with more appeal hasn't really worked out. We could have had an all new 500 with a proper hybrid system, say around 2017-18 and a matching Panda too. That would have bought them time and sales and new steel for dealers from then until theoretically 2035 if they want to stick to the same game plan they have of keeping the models over a decade. And the next few years to now get serious about their EV options, that timing probably also would have been acceptable given that the technology would take a bit longer to trickle down into smaller, more affordable cars like the Panda and 500.
2015 and I remember the Ford Ka+ and the Vauxhall Viva city cars coming out. Most of them had AC, even heated seats in the middle and higher trims for not much more than a Panda. Back then I remember thinking 'wow' at the value proposition. Alright so those cars lack any character but from the showroom sell, the spec list, the price comparison I'm sure they were easy to shift to customers (and being Ford / GM - they didn't need to worry about them needing a new one in three years time! haha). In all the time since then, the least Fiat could have done was throw equipment and packs and more than they have at the Panda / 500. I remember Vauxhall having the Limited Edition Corsa and a long list of trims in 2014 and I'm sure that gave genuine value to buyers (ignoring the fact it's a Corsa D) enough to make them give it some thought over the equivalent Fiesta of the time. No idea how that thing went up against the Polo from its era either. Surprised GM would have been so lazy about replacing what was once a consistent UK best seller model. Then again, in 2014 they still made new petrol cars that just about clocked 100k and considered that alright. Nobody will miss GM how we're all going to miss proper Fiat.
